


Stupid Cupid

by Cheshire_XOXO



Category: Avengers, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, Everyone Loves Peter Parker, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Injury Recovery, Irondad, Light Angst, M/M, Parent Tony Stark, Plot, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2020-05-28 18:16:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19399699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheshire_XOXO/pseuds/Cheshire_XOXO
Summary: “Daddy! Daddy! Help! There’s a spider in my room!”“Spider? Where?! Where spider? Spider where? Pepper, call the exterminator! Sell the tower! We’re moving!”-Peter and Harley finally meet, and sparks definitely fly. But they don't know how to approach each other, so the other Avengers take it upon themselves to get the two together. Are you team "Peter Makes the First Move," Team "Harley Makes the First Move," or Team "Leave Them the F*ck Alone"?





	1. Welcome Home!

“Daddy! Daddy! Help! There’s a spider in my room!”

Morgan’s shrill cries for help were drowned out by the collapsing of her bedroom door and the whirring of Tony’s repulsors.

“Spider? Where?! Where spider? Spider where? Pepper, call the exterminator! Sell the tower! We’re moving!”

Tony looked around the room, suited in his Mark 30 (though it wasn’t his favorite suit, Tony decided it needed a little love and was upgrading it when Morgan cried for help). His left arm was held outwards with the repulsor in the palm glowing bright blue, ready to fire. His right hand held a... flamethrower?

“There’s the spider!” Morgan pointed at the spot next to her

Peter grinned sheepishly, holding an empty ceramic teacup, a little tiara stuck onto his soft brown hair, and proudly adorning an MIT crew neck sweater.

“Surprise?”

Tony let his hand drop to his side and dropped the flamethrower on the ground. “Kid?”

“H-Hey, Mr. Stark! I know I said I couldn’t come during summer break because of work and summer classes and stuff, but uh... I lied?”

Tony pulled Peter into a tight hug. “Is that why you haven’t been answering my calls or is this payback for your Spidey beginnings?”

Peter grinned. “A little of both. Oh how the tables have turned, old man.”

“Hey, I am not old! I’m still in my prime.”

“Yeah, sure. But only relatively since you hang out with 100 year old superheroes and Norse gods.”

The two laughed and Tony gave Morgan a kiss on the top of her head. “And you, little miss, who exactly taught you how to lie?”

Morgan giggled and gave her dad a hug. “Big brother Harley!”

Peter held a hand over his heart and swooned dramatically. “I’ve only been away for college for 9 months and you’ve already replaced me? I’m hurt, Mr. Stark, really. I’m replacing all of my Iron Man posters with Captain America posters.”

“Calm down, kid, I didn’t replace you.” Tony rolled his eyes. “Besides, I met Harley first when I crashed into his shed in Tennessee. So technically, I replaced him with you.”

“Wow, that makes this infinitely better.”

“And where did you learn to be so sassy?”

“You.”

“Huh... Yeah, I see it. Anyway, Harley is an old friend. About a year or two older than you, I believe. While your thing is more biochem, he’s very gifted at mechanics and engineering.” Tony explained to Peter. “After his mom passed away, I offered to let him and his sister stay here. I was hoping to introduce you two so you could work together.” Tony shrugged.

Peter nodded. “Makes sense, I guess.. So, when do I get to meet this Harley?”

Tony hummed and looked through the messages on his phone. “He and his sister are with Rogers and Barnes exploring New York. I heard something about Coney Island and Cyclones. My guess is that they’ll be back pretty late, so I’ll introduce you tomorrow.”

“Awesome!” Peter exclaimed. Although he was interested in meeting Harley, he was much more excited to be reunited with the Avengers. School came before crime fighting. Although Peter didn’t stop being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, his hours of patrolling lessened. If there was any trouble, Peter still monitored crime via police radio and was more than ready to jump into action.

Although Tony liked the Compound upstate, he decided to take a page out of Peter’s book and moved the Avengers back into the heart of New York so they could look out for the little guy as well as focus on more dangerous missions.

“Where are the others?” Peter asked. When Morgan helped Peter sneak into her room, he noticed that the Tower was surprisingly empty.

“Well, Clint is with his family on the farm. Rogers and Barnes are showing Harley and Abbie around New York. Nat, Wanda, and Vision are in Wakanda helping T’Challa with some human trafficking rescue operation. Rhodey and Sam are on a super secret military mission that I don’t have ‘clearance’ to know. Whatever. Bruce is in South Korea working with Dr. Helen Cho on a project on neurogenesis. Thor is currently off-world... Am I missing anyone?”

“Scott and the Guardians and Dr. Strange!”

“Yeah, I meant anyone important.” Tony shrugged.

A yellow glow appeared above Tony’s head and a dusty old book dropped down from a glowing yellow circle right onto Tony’s head.

“Ouch!”

Tony rubbed his head and checked for a bump. He then raised his middle finger towards the glowing circle. The book levitated back into the circle and it closed.

Peter and Morgan laughed at Tony when two glowing circles appeared above their heads. A teddy bear with a familiar looking goatee and signature red cape fell into Morgan’s lap. She giggled and hugged the bear tightly.

A small wrapped box gently floated down into Peters’s lap. Peter picked up the handwritten note stuck to the top of the box that read ‘Welcome back’ and opened the box.

“Sweet!” Peter lifted the mug out of the box and turned it around. Printed on the mug were three elements from the periodic table: Iodine (I), Chromium (Cr), and Yttrium (Y) followed by the word “periodically.” “Thanks, Dr. Strange! I love it!”

The small portal above Peter’s head closed, but Peter swore he saw the edge of Dr. Strange’s signature red cape give him a wave.

Tony frowned. “So you both get gifts and I get a book to the head? Not fair.”

“Well, that’s what you get for badmouthing a wizard.” Peter stuck his tongue out at Tony.

“Daddy, look at my present!” Morgan proudly showed Tony her Dr. Strange bear and set up a little cup of tea for it. “See? He likes tea just like Uncle Stephen!” Tony couldn’t help but smile at his daughter. He pulled her into his lap as she continued to serve tea to her other plush toys.

“No one else knows you’re back?” Tony asked Peter as Morgan refilled his tea cup.

Peter shook his head. “Just you, May, and Morgan!”

Tony smiled softly. “We should invite May over tonight. Have dinner together. A welcome back dinner.”

Peter nodded and returned his smile. “Yeah, I’d like that very much.”

Morgan made Tony a cup of tea and the three sat there in quiet contentment, pretending to drink out of their empty cups.

“Hey, Mr. Stark?” Peter asked.

Tony hummed.

“Where’s Pepper?”

“Spider? Where?! Where spider?“

Pepper burst into the room holding one of those electric bug zappers that kind of looked like a tennis racket. The way she held it looked like she was ready to beat down Aldrich Killian round 2. Tony and Peter held their hands up in surrender as if to silently beg her not to hurt them.

“Mommy!” Morgan clapped and smiled brightly.

At the sight of Peter, Pepper dropped the big zapper next to the flamethrower on the floor and squeezed him tightly in a hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'll be honest, I'm not a very consistent updater, but I actually really like this fic and I really want to finish it! Please leave a comment if you liked it and want to read more! Thanks!


	2. First Impressions

Peter woke up early, around 5 in the morning the next day. FRIDAY gradually increased the brightness in his room to help him wake up. Peter stayed in bed for a few minutes, thinking about the night before. May had joined him, Morgan, Pepper, and Tony for dinner after work. Peter and Pepper were on cooking duty. Peter loved May with all of his heart, but he would be lying if he said that her cooking improved over the years. As he grew older, Peter started learning how to cook so he could let May relax after a hard day at the hospital. In a way, Peter felt like he was providing for her after all the years she took care of him and raised him. He wasn’t amazing at cooking, but he’d like to think he was pretty decent at it.

That night, Peter and Pepper made spaghetti and meatballs. It was simple, but Peter decided to make it the way Ned’s mom taught him. Filipino spaghetti was made with cut up hot dogs instead of meatballs, and the sauce was sweeter. To please Morgan, Peter took a few mini hot dogs and gently sliced the bottoms diagonally so it created a mini octopus. Morgan absolutely loved them.

Dinner went by smoothly, a picture of sweet domesticity. Pepper, Tony, and May bombarded him with questions about MIT: how were classes, what projects was he working on, was the food in the cafeteria still just as bad as Tony remembered, which library was his favorite, etc.

“Hey, kid,” Tony called Peter’s attention from his seat on the opposite side of the table. Peter chewed the noodles in his mouth and turned his head from a laughing May to Tony. “I hope you don’t mind, but I shared your blueprint for the portable non-invasive suture with Harley. I wanted him to try his hand at something other than old cars and my old suits.”

This caught Peter’s attention. Peter had an idea to create a version of his web fluid that could be used in medical emergencies in order to quickly stitch together wounds without actually having to use stitches. This project could be used during military operations, post-natural disasters, or in developing countries where sanitary conditions were lacking and medical equipment couldn’t be properly sanitized. He wanted to work with Bruce on making the fluid gentle enough on human skin, yet strong enough to close even large open wounds, and have the ability to dissolve once the wound was fully healed. He was also hoping he and Tony could work together on the schematics for creating the portable machine to dispense the fluid...

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Peter tried to sound more excited than disappointed, but Tony seemed to catch on.

“I’ve also been thinking of different upgrades for your Spidey suit and our suits,” Tony said with a smile. “I’ve been working on self-repairing nanotech suits for the team using a hybrid of our tech and Vibranium, but I just can’t seem to get it perfected. I sure could use your help.”

Peter beamed. He would never pass up the opportunity to work with Vibranium. “Of course, Mr. Stark! I’d love to work with you on that!”

“Tomorrow morning then. Get some rest, especially you Morguna.” Tony picked up Morgan. “It’s bedtime already.”

Morgan pouted. “Want Petey to tuck me in please!”

Peter chuckled. “Anything for you Angel Baby.”

Tony handed Morgan to Peter and they headed to Morgan’s room. Peter gently laid her on her bed and tucked her blanket around her. Then he placed her teddy-vengers next to her. She was building up quite the collection, which so far included Iron Man (of course), RESCUE, War Machine, Thor and a mini Mjolnir, Captain America and his prominent shield, a generic looking bear in a lab coat and glasses that Peter assumed was supposed to be Dr. Banner, and the new Dr. Strange bear.

“Need one of Spidey.” Morgan said as Peter finished surrounding her with her teddy bears.

Peter nodded. “Let’s go to Build-a-Bear some time, princess. Sound good?”

She nodded excitedly. “Can we bring Harls too, Petey? And Abbie?”

Peter kisses the top of her forehead. “Sure, love. Anything you want. Is there anything else you need before I go to bed?”

She shook her head and wrapped her arms around his neck for one last hug. “Missed you Petey.”

“I missed you too, Morgan. Goodnight!”

With one final kiss, Peter headed to his room. It was exactly the way he left it before he headed out to MIT. Though, he figured Pepper made sure his sheets were washed every few weeks just in case he came out to visit. He felt guilty for not visiting more often, but his first year of college was pretty overwhelming, being a double major in biochem and engineering at freaking MIT. Tony and Pepper understood and Peter made sure to give them and May weekly updates.

Peter rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he finished reminiscing the night before. His heart was full, but his stomach was not. Even as he got older, his increased metabolism never slowed down.

Peter decided now was a good time to get up and head to the Tower’s communal kitchen. All was quiet, but his enhanced hearing could pick up the steady rhythm of footsteps. Cap and Bucky were on their routine morning run at the indoor track. He also picked up on the quiet whirring of tools and assumed Tony was already awake and working in his lab.

Peter made himself a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs and rice and a cup of coffee.

“Hey, FRIDAY?” Peter asked the AI. “Has Mr. Stark had breakfast yet?”

“Mr. Stark has not had breakfast yet.” The AI responded.

After he finished his breakfast and put away his dishes, Peter made sure to make a plate and a cup of coffee for Tony before heading down to Tony’s lab.

As he approached the lab, Peter could hear the beginnings of a rock song as power chords from an electric guitar echoed throughout the lab. Peter grinned. Some things never changed.

Peter entered the lab and looked around for where Tony was working.

_“Hey, y’all, is that my dog up on the roof. And good god, why’s my car out in the pool.”_

Peter’s brow furrowed. The singer of the song definitely had a heavy Southern accent, and if Peter knew anything about Tony is that Tony did not like country. To be honest, Peter wasn’t that big of a fan of country either. Then Peter remembered that guy Tony told him about, Harley, was from Tennessee. Peter’s mouth fell into a slight frown. It was definitely going to be interesting working with this Harley.

Peter heard the sounds of a blowtorch coming from the opposite side of a vintage 1969 Maserati Ghibli. Peter wasn't really into repairing vintage cars the way Tony was, but apparently, Tony's _other_ protege was. Peter walked around it to see where the sound was coming from. That’s when he saw _him_.

If Peter didn’t know any better, he would have thought that he walked onto the set of Magic Mike 2. Harley was currently welding two fragments of metal piping together, blow torch in his gloved hands, welders mask covering his face. Peter could still see the dirty blonde curls on top of his head. Harley’s arms were uncovered as he was wearing a black fitting sleeveless tee. Peter could see the dips in Harley’s muscular biceps, some areas covered with small blotches of grease. Yeah, that probably wasn’t very safe, Peter thought. But part of him couldn’t tear his eyes away from those muscular arms.

Peter didn’t know how long he had been standing there, plate and coffee still in his hands, but Harley seemed to notice he was there. He turned the blowtorch off and set the metal pipes down on the table. He lifted off the welder's mask and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his forearm.

Peter thought he was going to go into cardiac arrest with how fast his heart was beating. And he was pretty sure his face was bright red.

“That for me, darlin’?” Harley teased, Southern accent heavy on his lips. The sound of his voice made a chill run up Peter’s spine.

“Wh-What?” Peter stuttered. Harley nodded towards the plate Peter had in his hand.

“O-Oh! Actually, I brought it for Mr. Stark because I thought he was down here working in the lab but you can have it. I made plenty anyways and I can always go make him another plate and more coffee. Though I’m pretty sure he’s probably already had like five cups of coffee this morning and it’s not even 7 am, so maybe I should make him a smoothie or something. H-Here.” Peter set the plate and mug down on an empty space on the table Harley was currently working at.

Harley grinned and removed his gloves. He reached one hand out to shake Peter’s hand. “I’m Harley. Harley Keener.”

Peter shook Harley’s outstretched hand. “I’m Speaker Peaker, Spider Parker, Peter Sparker, Parker Peter, I mean Peter Parker!”

Peter let go of Harley’s hand to rub his bright red face. Harley just laughed.

“So you’re the famous Peter Parker I’ve been hearing so much about. Everyone here told me that when I met you, I’d absolutely love you. They definitely weren’t wrong.” Harley flashed him a wink which made Peter’s face turn a brighter shade of red if that was even possible.

“T-Tony hasn’t really told me much about you.” Peter stuttered our and immediately regretting it. Harley arched an eyebrow at him. “I-I mean, not much other than he crashed into your shed. B-But I would like to know more about you!”

Harley smiled. “I think we’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other, darlin’. Hey, FRI, turn down the music, would ya?” Harley moved to grab seats for him and Peter. “Hope you don’t mind country music. I know Tony’s not a big fan.”

“No!” Peter exclaimed. “I meant no, I don’t mind not no I don’t like it. I mean, I don’t listen to it much but if you like it’s fine. You’re perfect- I mean it’s perfect! I’m gonna come-GO! Go water some plants now, b-BYE Harley!”

Peter stiffly marched towards the door to the lab when Tony finally decided to make an appearance.

“Hey, kid! Did you make breakfast? It was great! Oh, and I see you brought Harls some, how sweet of you! See, I knew you two would get along!”

Peter’s face flushed a dark red and he harshly whispered to Tony something along the lines of “I hate you, how could you, you’re no longer invited to my birthday party” before brushing past the poor, confused man.

Tony blinked and turned to Peter’s retreating figure and turned back to see Harley’s smirking face.

“You hide that angel from me on purpose, old man? I’m hurt, real hurt.”

Tony rolled his eyes at Harley who was currently enjoying the breakfast Peter brought.

“You know, I was afraid you two wouldn’t get along. Now I’m afraid that you’re gonna get married by the end of the summer.”

Harley choked on his food and sputtered, much to Tony’s amusement. “H-Hey! We just met!”

Tony smirked. “And you’ve already got heart eyes for him. Do me a favor, not in the lab.”

“Tony!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song that Harley is playing in the lab: Musta Had a Good Time by Parmalee


	3. Civil War Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! I didn't expect this to get so popular so quickly! Thanks, everyone, especially those of you who have left really encouraging comments! I wanted to update as quickly as I could. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

“Nat, stop laughing! It was so bad!”

The spy couldn’t stop laughing. “I’m sorry, маленький паук (little spider), but it’s incredibly funny.”

Later that day, Nat, Vision, and Wanda has returned from their mission in Wakanda. The four were currently sitting in Peter’s room as he described his meeting with Harley, much to their collective amusement.

Peter groaned. “I can’t believe I embarrassed myself that bad in front of him! He probably thinks I’m an absolute idiot.”

Peter rolled around on his bed and covered his face with a pillow.

“I’m sure he doesn’t think that way, Peter.” Wanda said as she stroked his hair. “We’ve all been telling him how great you are since he got here. If anything, he probably finds your shyness endearing.”

“I calculate a 96% compatibility between you two.” Vision piped in. “Everything will be fine.”

“Besides, first impressions aren’t everything.” Nat added.

“Actually-“

Vision was quickly silenced by two pairs of glaring eyes.

“Peter, you just need to be more confident. Be assertive. Show him that he’s gonna have to work for your attention. You’re not gonna be won over just by his accent and him calling you ‘darlin’.”

Wanda nodded, agreeing with Nat. Peter’s face flushed a bit at that, but he agreed with Nat. Peter Parker was not easy. And there was no way he was going to let himself swoon over Harley.

Peter sighed. “But... I’m way too shy.. I dunno, I don’t know the first thing about flirting..”

“Don’t worry, Peter, we’ll help you out!”

Nat and Wanda hi-fived each other and Peter gave them a hug.

"Thanks, guys, you're the best."

“I believe it is in my best interest to sit this one out. But I will be cheering for you from the sidelines. Rah.”

* * *

“He could barely look me in the eyes...” Harley groaned and rubbed his face with his hands.

Steve just patted his shoulder and gave the boy a sympathetic look.

“What if he never wants to talk to me again?” Harley whined and fell back onto his bed.

“Peter wouldn’t do that to you. He’s a nice guy.” Steve reassured though it didn’t make Harley feel any better. “Maybe you just came on too strong?”

Sam nodded. “Pete’s pretty shy and he gets flustered easily, which I’m sure you saw.”

Harley removed the pillow from his face and nodded. “Yeah... I thought it was real cute...” A small smile played on his lips. “But I don’t want to make him uncomfortable... I just wanna get to know ‘im and spend time with ‘im..”

“You just gotta smooth-talk him, you know? Be all romanticy.”

Bucky scoffed. “Oh yeah? What exactly do you know about smooth talking, Sam? Can’t even smooth talk your way out of a parking ticket.”

“You know I hate parking in Brooklyn!” Sam threw his shoe at Bucky’s head. “Like you’re any better?”

“Yeah, actually, I am.” Bucky said smugly. “I was actually very popular with the dames back in our day. Tell ‘im Stevie.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Peter’s no dame, Buck. He’s not gonna fall for the stupid lines you used back then.”

“I know Pete’s no dame, Stevie. If Harley tried anything funny, Peter could probably throw him a couple yards.”

Harley looked at Bucky terrified and Sam threw his other shoe at him.

“Ouch! Oh, shoot… Was he not supposed to know?”

“I know Peter’s Spider-Man.” Harley explained. “I grilled it out of Tony since he’s really bad at lying and I called bull on the cover story he tried to sell me when he first told me about Peter. Besides, he called himself Spider Parker this morning trying to introduce himself.” Harley chuckled.

Steve gave him a soft smile. “Yeah… He’s never been very good at keeping that a secret.”

Harley wrung his hands and his lips curled downwards. “Peter’s amazing… He’s incredibly smart, got a full ride to MIT without Tony saying a work, and he wants to do all he can to help people… He’s saving people as Peter Parker and as Spider-Man. And I’m just some uneducated dumb hick from middle a’nowhere Tennessee…”

“Son, don’t even think that way.” Steve patted Harley on his back. “From what I’ve heard from Tony, you’re just as talented with mechanics as he is! And it’s okay that you don’t feel like college is the right choice for you right now. You’re being wise about the decisions you make. I nearly had a heart attack seeing textbook prices!”

Harley laughed softly.

“Cap’s right,” Sam chuckled. “Besides, Pete’s not one of those snobby smart people. He’s one of those people that you meet and you think ‘How can someone be so academically talented and yet so dumb at the same time.’ Kinda evens out the playing field if you ask me.”

Harley gave a small chuckle at Sam's comment.

Steve nodded, “For Peter, it’s what’s on the inside that matters most. Heart-“

“Muscles.”

“What in the world- Buck, no. You’re ruining my motivational speech.”

* * *

“Cap, there better be a good reason why you called a team meeting at midnight. I was actually gonna try to get to bed at a decent hour tonight.” Tony sighed as he walked into a soundproof conference room that was typically used for Avengers mission debriefs.

Steve looked around the room at those who joined the team meeting. Nat, Vision, and Wanda sat on one side of the table. Bucky and Sam sat closest to him at the head of the table. Rhodey, Tony, and Bruce sat at the other end of the table.

“Is it a mission? How come Peter’s not here?” Bruce asked looking around at the others. He flew to the Tower as soon as Tony told him that Peter was back. When Peter first pitched his idea about the non-invasive sutures to Bruce, Bruce couldn’t wait to get started.

“Peter isn’t here because… Well, it has to do with Peter.”

Bruce looked at Steve confused, but the others seemed to understand where he was going with this.

“You guys can’t be serious.” Rhodey looked around at the table incredulously. “Pete’s an adult! He doesn’t need dating advice from a bunch of assassins, scientists, and super soldiers. He’s got this completely under control.”

“Dating? Who’s he dating?” Bruce furrowed his eyebrows. “How long have I been gone?”

“Don’t worry, Bruce, it all happened this morning. You’re really not missing much.” Nat reassured.

“I know Peter can handle himself well enough, but I was thinking more of trying to help Harley out a bit,” Steve explained.

“Harley, that tall blonde guy that Peter hides from when he’s in my lab?” Bruce asked. The others around the table sighed as if to prove Cap’s point. “What’d I say?”

When Bruce arrived at the tower, Peter didn’t waste any time dragging him to his lab on the floor below Tony’s. The young man was almost reluctant to leave the lab, unintentionally making Bruce the snack and supply runner (not that he really minded).

After a few hours, Peter and Bruce believed that they had created a testable version of the non-invasive suture fluid. The only problem was that they needed the prototype dispenser that Harley was in charge of.

“Hey FRIDAY, can you ask Tony to send down that prototype dispenser?” Bruce asked the AI.

“Of course, Dr. Banner.” A few minutes later, she responded, “Boss is currently unavailable, but he is sending down Mr. Keener.”

Peter almost dropped the glass test tube he was holding. “I just remembered I have to- uh- wash the uh- petri dish centrifuge!” With that, Peter scrambled out of Bruce’s lab towards who knows where.

“Petri dish… centrifuge?” Bruce shook his head. He’d ask later. About three minutes passed when a knock sounded on the door to his lab. Standing in front of the door was a tall young man Bruce had never met before. He assumed this was the Mr. Keener FRIDAY had mentioned and waved to him to come inside.

“Here’s the prototype, Dr. Banner.” Harley said, placing it on the work table. “It’s a pleasure to meet ya. I’m a big fan of your work. I’m Harley, by the way. Harley Keener, a friend of Tony Stark’s.”

Bruce grinned politely as he shook Harley’s hand. “Thank you, Harley. You know, I’m really surprised Tony found the time to make this prototype.”

Harley grinned sheepishly. “Actually, I’m the one who made it.”

This surprised Bruce. “Really? Wow, I’m impressed. It looks very sleek.”

Harley chuckled. “Don’t give me too much credit. It needs to actually work first.”

“You’re right. Peter and I will run a couple of tests with our sample fluid and we’ll let you know how it works.”

At the mention of Peter’s name, Harley looked around for the boy. A frown played on his lips when he didn’t spot him.

“Sorry, Harley, but you just missed him. He ran off somewhere to do… something.” Bruce smiled apologetically.

“Oh.. No problem then, Dr. Banner. Let me know how it works…”

With that, Harley sadly retreated back up to Tony’s lab. And Bruce was just as confused as ever.

After Bruce recounted the story for the team, Steve shook his head. “Harley told me he was afraid he made Peter uncomfortable. I wanted to help him take things slow with Peter, kinda ease him into it.”

Wanda let out a soft hum. “Peter was afraid that he made a fool of himself during their first meeting. He feels awfully embarrassed about the whole thing. Nat and I wanted to help him feel more confident to approach Harley.”

“I think that’s very kind of you both, but I think Harley should take the lead on this one.” 

Natasha cocked an eyebrow at Steve. “So you’re saying Peter can’t make the first move?”

“I’m not saying that,” Steve defended himself. “I’m saying that when Harley makes his move, I just want to make sure he’s respectful about it.”

Nat scoffed. “Peter’s not made out of glass, Steve. If Peter wants Harley to wine and dine him first, that’s his decision. If Peter wants to skip all formalities and drag Harley to his room—“

“Mblergh, I’ve heard enough! Do not finish that sentence!” Tony pointed accusingly at Nat who promptly shut her mouth. “Look, I appreciate you guys looking out for Harley and Peter,but if they’re meant to be together, they’ll end up together regardless. Nat, I know you’re rooting for Peter and Steve I know you’re rooting for Harley, but I would greatly appreciate it if you left them both the f-rick alone. Hey, baby girl, you’re still awake?”

The team looked towards the slightly opened door to the conference room where Morgan was now standing. Morgan held her Iron Man bear tightly and sniffled, her eyes slightly red. “Nightmare, daddy…”

Tony picked Morgan up. “Alright, I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep then.” He kissed the top of her head and sent a pointed look over to where the others were standing or sitting before taking Morgan to her room as if to say “End of discussion.”

The others watched Tony’s retreating figure in silence until Vision cleared his throat.

“I do agree with him. As I told Wanda and Natasha earlier, I calculate a 96% compatibility between the two. They will find their way to each other in no time.”

Wanda smiled softly at Vision. “Vis, you’re great at probabilities, but humans are not as predictable as a computer program.”

“Besides, how well can you factor in human stupidity?” Nat teased.

“If what Vision says is true, then Harley will make his move eventually. Just let him take his time.”

“You wanna put money on that Rogers?” Nat crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “Pete just needs a push in the right direction and he’ll have Harley wrapped around his finger in no time.”

“I’m not gonna bet on this, Nat.”

“Yeah, well I will.” Sam shook Natasha’s hand. “My boy Harley’s gonna be the smoothest thing Pete’s ever seen.”

“I know Peter and Peter gets what he wants.” Wanda drawled out with her rich Sokovian accent. “And what he wants is a certain Harley Keener.”

“You guys know Tony’s gonna be pissed at all of you if he finds out that you’re all trying to matchmaker, right?”

Bruce nodded, agreeing with Rhodey who always seemed to be the team’s voice of reason. “Guys, it feels kinda wrong to mess with their emotions like this.”

“We’re not messing with their emotions,” Nat reassured. “We’re just giving them some romantic advice is all.”

Nat, Wanda, Sam, and Bucky shook hands before turning towards Steve who let out a resigned sigh. “I guess I did get myself into this mess…” He shook Wanda’s and Nat’s hands. “What exactly is on the table here?”

“Hm… We can decide on that later. Money seems pretty low level. I think we should make this bet a little more interesting than that.”

With that, Wanda and Nat left the conference room leaving the men behind in silence. Bruce and Rhodey looked at each other and shook their heads and gave Steve, Sam, and Bucky sympathetic looks before leaving the room as well.

When they were gone, Steve and Bucky turned to Sam.

“What? What’s with the angry eyes?” Sam asked innocently. “There’s no harm in a little wager, right?”

Bucky smacked him on the back of his head. “There’s always harm when you bet against Natasha.”

Sam stared blankly into the distance as he processed what Bucky just told him.

“So… I guess it’s too late for me to change teams, right?”

“Shut up, Sam.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you Team Cap, Team Nat, or Team Tony? Comment below!


	4. Like a Black Widow, Baby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter and Nat's sparring playlist:
> 
> Black Widow: Fame on Fire ft. Twiggy  
> Start a Riot: Duckswrth, Shaboozey  
> Believer: Imagine Dragons  
> DJ Turn It Up: Yellow Claw

“Peter, Ms. Romanov requests your presence in the training facility immediately.”

Peter groaned and covered his head with his pillow. “FRI, what time is it?”

“Time for you to get up.”

Peter huffed. “Hey, Karen, what time is it?”

“The time is 6:06 AM, Peter,” Karen answered from her place in Peter’s StarkPhone.

“See, FRI, why can’t you be nice to me like Karen is?”

“If Karen wants to run the Tower, she can. I am merely relaying Ms. Romanov’s message.”

The lights in Peter’s room promptly shut off and the blinds shut themselves, removing the remaining light from the sun. Peter sat up in the dark and stared up at his ceiling.

“FRI, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that, please don’t be mad at meeee.”

FRIDAY, however, did not respond.

“Karen? Is there any way you could turn on the lights?”

“Sure, Peter. FRIDAY has given access to the Tower’s mainframe for today.” Karen answered from the ceiling rather than Peter’s phone.

The blinds to his room opened and the lights glowed dim, filling in any dark spots left from the still rising sun. Peter groaned. He was definitely going to be in trouble later with Tony.

“I would suggest not keeping мама паук waiting, Peter.” Karen gently reminded.

Peter took off his pajamas and dressed in his workout clothes which consisted of black joggers and a plain black tank top. He didn’t bother taking a shower though because he knew his sparring match with Nat was going to be intense, as it always was.

Peter grabbed a workout towel and water bottle on his way out of his room when he paused.

“Karen? Did you call Nat мама паук?” Peter asked his AI.

“Yes, that is her contact name in your phone.”

“Does that mean everyone has access to the contact names I set for them?”

“Yes.”

Peter groaned. Today was starting off rough, and would only get rougher physically. He really needed to apologize to FRIDAY after training with Nat. What do you even get AI’s? Digital flowers and holographic chocolates?

* * *

“You sure took your time getting ready,” Natasha called, looking down at Peter who had just entered the training room.

Peter set his stuff down and looked at where Natasha was currently standing. The training facility was quite large, and Tony did not hold back adding all sorts of crazy contraptions to fit each person’s unique skill set. While the floors were usually sectioned by sparring mats, Peter found that the floors had actually moved away and uncovered the lap pool. Emerging from the lap pool were scattered hexagonal pillars which ranged from 15 to 20 feet tall from where Peter was standing.

The platforms were currently connected, and Natasha was waiting for Peter on the center platform. She held two bamboo rods, their weapons for the day. While Peter did not usually rely on any weapons other than his web shooters, Nat was strict on teaching him how to use a variety of weapons.

Peter climbed the metal ladder up to the first platform and made his way to Natasha. She threw him a bamboo rod, which he caught with ease.

“Today, we’ll be focussing on your agility, mobility, and your ability to fight on tall, uneven terrains,” the spy explained. “Remember, you have the upper hand in this kind of environment. It shouldn’t be difficult for you to beat me.”

Peter nodded. The first time he and Natasha trained together, Peter would only dodge and defend. He was too scared to really hit an unenhanced human with his super strength. But after a few years of sparring together, Peter learned how to control his strength.

“The loser is determined by whoever falls. Ready, маленький паук (little spider)?”

Peter nodded and bent his knees, ready to strike.

“Bridges down.”

By Natasha’s command, the suspended bridges connecting the hexagonal platforms receded into the pillars. The two would have to bounce between platforms in order to dodge each other.

Natasha struck first.

* * *

“FRIDAY, can you give me a holographic replica of the damages done to the Iron Spider suit during the last attack with... what’s the name? Lizard?”

“Of course, Iron Dad.”

The replica appeared in front of Harley and Tony, but Tony arched a brow at the familiar voice that wasn’t FRIDAY.

“Karen? What are you doing in the Tower?” Tony asked the AI. “And why’d you call me Iron Dad?”

Harley snickered by Tony’s side earning him a glare.

“It seems that Peter and FRIDAY got into a bit of an argument this morning, so FRIDAY let me take over the Tower’s main frame. Iron Dad is your contact name in Peter’s phone.”

Tony’s lips curled upwards in a slight smile as he heard Karen explain. But something was still off. “Then... Where’s FRIDAY?”

“She is currently playing chess with Vision.”

Tony groaned in frustration and rubbed his face with his hands. “Alright, thanks for helping out today Karen. And where exactly is Peter Benjamin Parker?”

“Peter is currently in the training room with мама паук.”

“Alright, thanks. Come on, Harls, I need to give Peter a stern talking to for hurting my baby girl.”

Harley followed Tony to the training room. It was a familiar route. After all, Harley did like to run around the track and lift weights every now and then just to keep himself in shape. But when he and Tony arrived, Harley thought they were in a completely different place.

“When could that do _that_?!” Harley waved his arms and gestured to the platforms standing inside the lap pool. “And there was a pool this whole time? Tony, what in the world is wrong with you?”

Tony just grinned. “What? Gotta maximize space somehow, and I just happen to be a very creative person. Oh, you might want to watch this.”

Harley looked up to see Peter in the middle of doing a front handspring onto the platform Natasha was standing on. He used his left leg to sweep under Natasha’s legs, but she jumped out of the way and aimed her bamboo staff to strike Peter’s shoulder. He used his own staff to deflect it.

“Похоже, у нас есть аудитория, маленький паук (Seems that we have an audience, little spider.)” Natasha hummed and allowed her eyes to glance over Peter’s shoulder for a split second. Peter, however, refused to let himself become distracted for any reason, and he kept his hard gaze on her (Nat was very proud). His sensitive hearing already picked up on just who had joined them in the training room.

Harley couldn’t tear his eyes off of the two sparring. This side of Peter was very different from the flustered Peter who stumbled into Tony’s lab and couldn’t get his own name right. And Harley could feel the _need_ to know every side of Peter Parker bubble in his chest.

Peter used his foot to knock Nat’s staff off balance and twisted his body mid-air to land a kick to Nat’s side. Nat took the hit with a grunt. But Peter knew better than to be cocky. She rolled on the ground onto a crouching position before attacking Peter head on.

“если хочешь произвести впечатление на своего мужчину, покажи ему новый шаг, которому я тебя научил (if you want to impress your man, show him the new move I taught you).” What came out of Natasha’s mouth was more of a command than a tease. She knew Peter was still holding back on her.

Peter narrowed his eyes and used the momentum from Natasha’s attack to backflip onto the platform behind him. Without taking a moment to rest, Peter bent his knees and lunges forward. Nat held her staff straight out as her defense, but Peter grabbed onto it, somersaulting over Natasha’s head, taking her down with him. She rolled onto her stomach, but Peter pinned her down and held her staff tightly underneath her chin, forcing her head upwards not to hurt her, but to cause some discomfort.

“Do you yield,” It was more of a command than a question that spilled from Peter’s lips. His breathing was shallow, trying to hide how tired he was from the past hour of unrelenting sparring.

Nat didn’t respond right away but stayed silent for a moment to catch her breath as well. Peter didn’t let his guard down. Instead, he raised the staff a bit, causing Natasha more discomfort. She grimaced and bit out a pained groan.

A smirk graced her lips and she tilted her head to the side to look at Peter.

“Очень хорошо, маленький паук. Теперь для последнего штриха. (Very good, little spider. Now for the final touch.)”

Peter’s grip stayed firm, though he was confused by Natasha’s words.

“видит твои силы, но я знаю, как сильно ты хочешь, чтобы он тебя прижал (He sees your strength, but I know how much you want him to pin you down),” she teased.

“Wh-What?!” Peter sputtered. Now that he was distracted, Nat took the opportunity to elbow his stomach and force the boy off of her. As Peter stood up, trying to regain his balance, Natasha swept her leg beneath his legs, sending Peter falling off of the side of the platform into the water below.

Tony and Harley rushed forward as they saw Peter’s body hit the water. But they were relieved when they saw Peter’s head emerge from below the water’s surface, gasping for air.Peter lifted himself onto the ground level using the metal ladder on the side of the pool.

“Not fair, мама паук,” Peter huffed as he pushed his wet hair out of his face. “That’s fighting dirty.”

Natasha shrugged as the bridge raised from the sides of the pillars and connected the platforms. “Sorry, маленький паук. You know everything is fair game.” She took her time making her way down to the ground.

Harley stared at Peter’s dripping form. Peter’s black tank clung to his muscular torso, outlining his toned abs, and his black joggers outlined his lean legs. Harley could feel his face flush. He barely even processed Tony shoving a towel into his arms, pushing him towards Peter.

“Oh, umm, h-here you go..” Harley handed Peter a towel.

Peter smiled and took it from Harley’s hand. “Thank you.”

Peter lifted off his tank and wrung the water out before throwing it over his shoulder and wiping himself down with the towel.

Harley’s face turned dark red and he quickly averted his eyes.

“I’m going to borrow Tony for a bit. We’ll leave you two alone.” A small smile played on Nat’s lips as she pulled Tony out of the training room.

“Hit the showers and come down to my lab when you’re done, kid. We have to talk about an upset AI.” Tony called out as he followed Nat out of the room.

An awkward silence filled the large room as Peter continued to dry himself, moving the towel to dry his hair.

Harley turned his head to look back at Peter. Though his heart thumped seeing just how handsome Peter was, he moved his hand to gently graze over a reddened mark on Peter’s shoulder. Similar bruises littered Peter’s pale skin. “That hurt at all, darlin’?”

Peter shrugged. “Getting hit with the bamboo staffs really sting, but I’ll be fine. I heal fast.”

He gave Harley a reassuring smile and placed his hand on top of the hand Harley placed on his shoulder. Harley smiled back and the two looked into each other’s eyes in quiet contentment.

Peter, however, noticed his mistake. “I-I mean, I heal fast for a completely normal human being!”

Harley scoffed. “Yeah, a completely normal human being can go toe-to-toe with the Black Widow, pin ‘er down, and live to tell the tale. Even if I didn’t know you were Spider-Man, I probably would’ve thought you were a super soldier or somethin’.”

Peter’s face flushed and he looked down. “Mr. Stark told you?” he asked.

“Somethin’ like that,” Harley shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. And don’t ever let Mr. “I am Iron Man” get on your case about not bein’ able to keep your secret identity a secret.”

The two laughed and Peter went to grab his water bottle. “I should get changed... Meet you in Mr. Stark's lab?"

Harley nodded and the two made their way to exit the training room. The showers were in the opposite direction as the elevator, so the two went their separate ways.

“Hey, Peter?” Harley called back as he watched Peter’s retreating back. Peter turned around and waited for Harley to continue. “I uh, you were really- It’s just that- What you did there- I just think you’re really cool…” Harley rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding Peter’s eyes.

Peter chuckled at how shy Harley was acting. “Thanks, Harley. I think you’re really cool too.”

Harley looked like he wanted to say something else, but was cut off by a loud, angry voice coming from the elevator that just opened.

“Peter, why the hell is the new voice calling me Sergeant Bucket?!”

Peter and Harley grinned at each other before running off in separate directions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually love sassy FRIDAY, she is my queen. Hope you enjoyed!


	5. You're My Sunflower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I changed the title of this fic. I feel like it fits a lot better. If you’re new, this fic used to be called “The Bet.”
> 
> Also, the song theme for this chapter is Sunflower by Swae Lee and Post Malone.

“Nat, I know exactly what you’re doing!” Sam pointed an accusing finger at Nat who was sitting at the kitchen counter eating an apple.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Sam,” she said sarcastically as she bit into the apple.

“You’re trying to get them all... You know!” Sam mashed his hands together and shuddered.

Wanda giggled as she poured herself a glass of orange juice. “Use your big boy words, Sam.”

“He’s trying to say that I’m trying to get them horny for each other,” Nat told Wanda with a bemused look on her face.

Sam rubbed his forehead. “Yeah, that. Stop that. Do you think we haven’t noticed that you always use the training room as a shortcut to Tony’s lab? And that you’ve been bringing Mr. Tall, Blonde, and Southern with you to _fix your Widow Bites_.” Sam said using air quotes. “How often do you break them?”

Nat shrugged when two figures entered the room.

“You talkin’ about our new regular spectator?” Bucky asked, wiping the sweat from his brow using his workout towel. He walked into the kitchen with Steve following behind him.

Nat shrugged her shoulders. “What? It’s not like Peter gets distracted.”

“No,” Steve agreed. “But he becomes more of a show-off, which leaves us with more bruises.”

Bucky and Sam both nodded, and Wanda and Nat looked at the trio with fake sympathy.

“You poor things,” Wanda teased.

“Whatever,” Sam huffed, “I’ve got a great idea to get them together. Harley’s definitely gonna ask Pete out first, and I’ve got just the thing in mind for you two when he does.” Sam said smugly.

Nat eyebrows creased together. “Date? I thought the plan was to get them to go steady.”

“People still ask to go steady?” Steve asked with a smile, somewhat surprised.

“No, I just used old people talk for you, Steve.”

Steve rolled his eyes slightly at that statement while the others laughed.

“Yeah, Steve, people either use ‘official’ or ask if people are ‘together.’” Bucky explained, matter-of-factly.

“You sure about that, Buck,” Steve asked, not believing his friend. “Last time I asked what ‘thot’ meant, you said it was text speak for a ‘thoughtful person.’ I told Fury he was a thot on his birthday card!” 

Steve huffed in annoyance when the other four burst out into laughter.

“Pretty sure that was the best birthday card anyone ever got that man, Stevie,” Bucky said in between laughs as he wiped the tears of laughter coming from the corner of his eyes. “I promise I’m not kidding this time.”

Wanda took a sip of her orange juice. “So what would you have us do if Harley asks Peter to be his boyfriend?”

Sam clapped his hands together and rubbed them. “One week. Clint’s farm. Figured Laura needed a break from all of that farm work, and I would love to see Nat try to milk a cow.”

Wanda and Nat shared a look before looking back at Sam.

“You talk a big game, yet all you can come up with is cow?” Wanda asked incredulously.

Sam’s shoulders dropped. “What? I just thought it would be funny…”

Bucky patted him on his back. “There, there. It’s okay. It’s your first time betting against her. You’re still learning the ropes.”

Sam frowned. “Fine. Nat, what do you have planned?”

She smirked. “The three of you switch costumes and weapons. Steve as Falcon, James as Captain America, and Sam as Winter Soldier.”

“Umm, I go by White Wolf now, actually.” Bucky corrected.

“Yeah, no one outside of Wakanda calls you that,” Nat said sarcastically.

Sam pouted slightly. “Awww, why can’t I be Captain America? And all I have are guns.”

Steve chuckled and patted Sam on his shoulder. “Another time, I promise.”

“Don’t worry, Sam, I promise I’ll make it interesting for you.” Nat grinned. “I’ll even ask Tony to make you a metal arm.”

* * *

Harley stood in front of the door to Peter’s room breathing in deeply, trying to calm his nerves.

“Just like you practiced, Harls.” He took a deep breath.

Just a few hours ago, Sam burst into his room telling him, “You know what would be a good idea? Ask Pete to show you around Central Park. Big park, really big. Would probably be best if you had someone who was familiar with it to take you around. So ask him. Like today.”

He raised his hand to knock, but the door to Peter’s room opened before his knuckles could make contact. Inside, Peter was sitting on his bed, a scene paused from a movie projected on his wall.

“H-Hey, Harley,” Peter waved. “FRIDAY said that you were standing outside for a couple minutes now and I told her to let you in.”

Yes, FRIDAY and Peter made up. The whole ordeal was quite comically, actually. After several rounds of chess with Vision, Friday camped out in different sections of the Tower. Peter eventually found here bouncing between different kitchen appliances after running away from “Sergeant Bucket,” “The Ostrich,” and “The Star-Spangled Man with a Plan” ( _Tony, I thought I destroyed all of the copies after I was defrosted!)_.

At one point, Peter had picked up a toaster, apologetically telling it, “I’m so sorry, FRIDAY, I promise I’ll never compare you to Karen again! I love you both equally and I will never ever say mean things to you ever again!”

Harley’s face flushed a light pink. Peter wasn’t wearing a shirt (Harley has probably seen Peter without a shirt on more than he’s seen him with one on at this point. He wasn’t sure if he could ever get used to it.) “Do you own any shirts or is that just a style choice?”

Peter looked down and hastily pulled on the shirt crumpled next to him. It was a maroon shirt that fit him snuggly. The print on the front read “Don’t be a s’’’(t)”

Harley let out a low whistle. “You kiss yer aunt with that mouth? Should be ashamed of yourself, Angel.”

Peter stuck his tongue out at Harley. “For your information, it’s calculus for ‘jerk’. And here I thought I was ‘Darlin’” Peter teaser, mocking Harley’s accent.

Harley moved closer to Peter until he was standing in front of him at the edge of his bed. “Angel, Darlin, I’ll call you anythin’ you like.” Harley tucked his fingers underneath Peter’s chin and tilted his head up.

If Peter didn’t have any self-control (which was probably capped at 20%), he would have told Harley to call him “yours.” But knowing his Parker luck, it would not come out that smooth. Peter felt the tips of his ears turn scarlet at the thought. “D-Did you want to ask me s-something?” He asked shyly.

Harley sat next to Peter on the bed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m real happy here at the Tower and all, and I’m real glad Tony and Pep took me ‘n my sister in, but... It’s all so mechanical and cold.” Harley waved his arms to gesture at the space around them. “I just miss the fresh air and trees and stars...”

Peter nodded as he listened to Harley. He understood what it felt like to be homesick. When he would visit Clint’s farm, he could feel his body itching for the noise and chaos of his city. The traffic, horns honking, people chattering and yelling—Peter’s senses were so used to the constant stimulation that being away from it felt foreign and deafening. He knew Harley was becoming overwhelmed with the noise and constant busyness of everyone in the Tower.

“Well, Sam recommended that I visit Central Park, but he thought it would be too confusing for me to navigate alone so... I was wonderin’ if you’d like to... join me?” Harley asked.

Peter blinked, taking a few seconds to process what Harley was asking. “Y-Yeah, yeah, of course, I’ll go with you, I’d love to show you around.”

Harley grinned. “Great! Thanks, Darlin’! We can leave tomorrow mornin’, bright an’ early.”

Harley moved off of Peter’s bed and began heading for the door when a gentle hand grasped his wrist. Harley turned around to see Peter looking up at him.

“Is it... Is this like a... A date?” He asked shyly.

Harley bit his lip and shrugged. “I mean, it doesn’t have to be if you don’t want it to be...”

Harley swore that he saw a little sparkle disappear from Peter’s eyes. But before he could question it, Peter gave him his signature grin. “Y-Yeah, okay, that’s fine. I just, wanted to make sure if I should dress nice or not, haha, ha...”

Harley chuckled. “You weren’t gonna dress nice for me if it wasn’t a date? Gee, I’m hurt.” Harley dramatically grasped at his heart. “For the record, I was gonna dress nice. I’ll see you in the morning, Darlin’. 8 am sharp.”

Harley flashed Peter a wink before leaving his room. The door closed behind Harley and Peter flopped back onto his bed with a tired groan.

* * *

“There’s three lakes, two zoos, a museum, and an amusement park here?” Harley exclaimed as he looked at the map Peter handed to him. “Petey, this ‘park’ is probably bigger than my home town. And look at how big the trees are! They're really workin' hard cleaning this disgusting city air.”

The two stood at the south entrance of the park by 6th Avenue. Harley was looking around excitedly, gaping at the large trees and green grass. Peter smiled as he watched Harley point out different destinations on the map.

“We have to go to Cherry Hill and Strawberry Fields! Are cherries even in season right now?”

Peter bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from smiling. Harley would figure it out eventually, but he didn’t want to spoil his fun.

“There’s a whole castle in ‘ere too? Woah! Oh, let’s go to Loeb’s Boathouse and rent one o’ those canoe things!”

Harley finished circling the places he wanted to see on the map and handed it to Peter with a proud grin. Peter chuckled at how childish Harley was acting and took a look at the map.

“I don’t think we can get to all of the places today, Harls, but we can definitely try everything you have circled on the south half of the park. You don’t want to go to the zoo?” Peter asked.

Harley shook his head. “We can see that another time. I want to bring Abbie and Morgan.”

Peter smiled softly and looked down at the map. “Looks like the closest one to where we are is the Gapstow Bridge. Ready?”

Harley nodded and held out his arm. Peter looked at it and blushed. “Wh-What are you doing?”

Harley smiled. “Come on, it’ll be cute. We’re already matching. We’re like a real couple.”

Peter’s cheeks darkened as he looked down at the shirts he and Harley were wearing. Peter was wearing a fitted maroon MIT shirt while Harley wore a fitted maroon short adorning the large black spider logo on Peter’s iron spider suit.

“Wh-Why are you wearing that shirt?” Peter stuttered as his eyes roamed over the spider printed on Harley’s chest. Peter felt a shudder in his spine, much like his Spidey sense, only better.

“Oh, this old thing?” Harley straightened out the wrinkles on his shirt and flashed Peter a wink. “Spider-Man’s my favorite superhero, of course. Who knows, maybe if he sees me in this shirt, he’ll swing on by.”

Peter giggled and hooked his left arm around Harley’s right arm. “Trying to make me jealous, Keener?”

Harley grinned. “Me? Never. I’m as loyal as they make ‘em. I’ve only got eyes for you.”

The two walked over to Gapstow Bridge, and Harley admired the little oasis in the midst of the city. He held out his phone and motioned for Peter to come closer to him. Peter wrapped one arm around Harley’s waist and placed the other gently on his chest. Harley held out his phone and took a few photos, trying to balance the scenery of the water and trees with the tall buildings in the background.

Peter looked around and saw that they were the only ones on the bridge. With a cheeky grin, he looked at Harley. “Watch this.” With a tap on the side of his wrist, a small drone appeared and flew out in front of them. Peter pulled Harley closer and smiled widely. “One, two, three, cheese!”

Harley turned his head at the last second and placed a gentle kiss on the top of Peter’s head.

Surprised, Peter quickly turned his head and bumped Harley’s nose with his forehead. The two let out an oof.

“I am so so sorry, Harley! Are you okay?” Peter frantically touched Harley’s face, checking for any bruising.

“I’m alright, Darlin’, promise. I was just surprised.” Harley reassured as he grabbed Peter’s hands to still them. “I’m sorry if I startled ya, I shoulda asked first if that was okay with you.”

Peter mumbled an “It’s okay,” before turning away from Harley. “S-Strawberry Fields is on the west side of the park, so let’s start heading over there. Come on, droney.”

Peter began walking off of the bridge and Harley followed a few steps behind him.

The two walked in silence towards Strawberry Fields. Harley looked around at the scenery when a gentle hand snaked around his arm. Harley looked down at Peter and smiled. Peter still didn’t look up at him, but Harley could see way Peter’s cheeks were tinted light pink.

When they arrived at Strawberry Fields, Harley looked around, but all he could see were tourists taking pictures in front of something on the ground.

“Wait, so you’re tellin’ me there aren’t any strawberries here?” Harley furrowed his eyebrows and glared at Peter who was laughing next to him.

“You were so excited!” Peter exclaimed, wiping the tears from the corner of his eyes. “I didn’t want to ruin your fun!”

Harley huffed and crossed his arms. “Next you’re gonna tell me there aren’t any cherries.”

Peter gave Harley an apologetic grin, and Harley held his hand over his heart. “No,” he gasped.

Peter laughed and pulled a reluctant Harley towards the Imagine mosaic on the ground to take a picture.

* * *

“Are you gonna help me row or not?” Harley whined.

Peter continued to film him on his phone. “With my super strength, this canoe is going to turn into a speed boat. Besides, it’s a lot more fun this way.”

Harley huffed and set the paddles back onto the boat as the two drifted slowly in the water. Peter set his phone down and looked at the boy in front of him. “You’re lucky I think you’re cute, Parker.”

Peter smiled softly and leaned back on his hands. “Hey, Harley?” He asked. Harley hummed in response. “I just realized that there isn’t much I know about you… I don’t even know how old you are.” 

Harley leaned back on his hands. “Ask me anythin’, and I’ll answer. I’m 21 for starters.”

Peter pursed his lips. “I’m still 19...”

Harley laughed loudly, which caused Peter to throw the map at him.

“Aw, don’t be like that Darlin’. I just didn’t know you were so young. That’s adorable!” Harley paused to catch his breath. “I’m just glad you aren’t 15, cuz Tony was 15 when he went to MIT. I like you a whole lot, but that woulda been wrong on so many levels.”

Harley’s bout of laughter started again. Mildly annoyed, Peter dipped his hand in the water on the side of the canoe and splashed Harley. He yelped from the cold of the water.

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop laughin’,” Harley held his hands up in surrender. “Next question.”

Peter hummed as he thought. “What school do you go to?”

At that, Harley turned his head away from Peter and rubbed the back of his neck. “I, uh, don’t go to school anywhere...”

“Sorry, sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed anything,” Peter apologized. “It’s just become a normal thing to ask, I’m sorry...”

Harley shook his head. “Don’t be sorry, I get that a lot. It’s just that it’s so expensive and everythin’... If I do go to college, I just want to make sure that I’m not wastin’ my time or money. Tony has been so generous lettin’ me n’ my sister live with him in the Tower, but I couldn’t ask him for that kind of money... I want to be able to do this myself.”

Peter nodded. That’s something he could understand. That’s why he didn’t tell Tony that he was applying to MIT. He wanted to be able to prove he was capable on his own.

“Are you working right now then?” Peter asked.

Harley nodded and smiled. “Yeah, I’m actually working in the R&D department at SI. Yeah, yeah, Tony put in a good word for me, but I’ve really been pulling my own weight! I’m an official employee, not just an intern.”

Peter grinned. “That’s really impressive, Harley. I’m still just an intern.”

Harley wiggled his eyebrows. “Oh? That makes me your boss, right?”

“Harley Keener, stop thinking whatever you’re thinking!” Peter splashed Harley who then splashed him back.

“I wasn’t thinking anything bad, I promise!”

The two bantered back and forth until the sun began to set. By the time the two headed for shore and returned their canoe, they were sopping wet. The rest of their evening consisted of Peter “sneakily” changing into his Spider-Man suit in an alley and swinging a screaming Harley over to a spot in Queens that served 99 cent pizza.

They arrived back at the Tower around 10 pm. Though it was far from the time that any of the Avengers would go to bed, the Tower was surprisingly empty when they returned.

“Any idea where everyone is?” Harley asked Peter.

Peter shrugged. “Meeting, probably.”

They stopped at Harley’s room first. “Well, I really enjoyed today, Darlin’. Thanks for showing me around.”

Peter smiled softly. “Next time, we should take Abbie and Morgan to the zoo. Where is Abbie, anyway?”

“She’s been stayin’ with the Bartons for the past two weeks,” Harley explained. “She loves playin’ with their kids and helpin’ around on the farm. It’s really hard to take the country out of that girl.”

The two laughed and Harley turned to leave when Peter caught his arm.

“W-Wait!”

Harley turned to look at Peter whose face was flushed. “What is it, Darlin’?”

Two hands gently cupped Harley’s face, and Peter leaned in closer. Their noses gently brushed. Harley could feel his heartbeat pick up. He leaned in closer and closed his eyes, waiting to feel a pair of soft lips on his.

He didn’t.

Instead, he felt them gently caress his cheek. When he opened his eyes, Peter had already run off.

Harley let out a content sigh before returning to his room, the door automatically closing behind him.

Down the hallway, just around the first corner, Peter stood with his back against the wall and chest heaving. “Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh,” he repeated frantically as he tried to catch his breath. After a few minutes, he finally calmed down enough to breathe at a normal speed, but a hand grasped his shoulder and he let out a yelp.

“Mr. Stark! Don’t scare me like that!” Peter exclaimed. “W-Wait… Did you- Did you see that?” Peter deadpanned.

Tony chuckled at the teen. “I’m guessing you two had a nice date, then?” It was more of a statement than a question, but Peter blushed and looked away from Tony.

“Y-Yeah, it was really nice…” he said softly.

Tony smiled. “I’m glad you two had fun.” Tony’s smile dropped and his face became stoic. “Come on, emergency briefing in the conference room. Fury called it.”

Peter swallowed thickly and nodded, straightening his shoulders as he followed Tony to the elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have the chapters of this fic mostly planned out, but are there any scenarios you guys want to see? Whether it’s between Harley and Peter or domestic Avengers, I’m always open to suggestions!
> 
> Who here has seen Spiderman Far From Home??? I loved it! I saw it opening day! I didn't cry as much as I thought I would though. I promise I won't spoil anything, but it has definitely given me inspiration for future chapters.


	6. Big Brothers, Harley and Peter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter finally gets to meet Abbie. Abbie is worried that her brother is moving way too quickly without knowing how Peter really feels and doesn't want him to get hurt. Is Peter ready to accept his feelings for Harley?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got around to updating, guys! Hope you enjoy it!

“Welcome back, Legolas.”

Tony gave Clint a firm handshake, wind whistling past them as they stood on the roof of the Avengers Tower.

Clint smiled and let out a small sigh. “I never could retire, could I.”

“Hey, if I can’t retire, neither can you.” Tony leaned in closer, “I’ll brief you on the new reports later.”

Clint nodded and moved away from the quinjet towards where Peter and Harley were standing. “Nice to see you again, Harley!”

Harley shook Clint’s hand. “Nice to see you again too, sir. Was Abbie any trouble?”

Clint shook his head and grinned. “Why don’t you ask her.”

“Harley!”

A figure with dirty blonde curls ran down the ramp of the quinjet and jumped into Harley’s arms. Harley spun the girl around before he set her down.

“Hey, Abs, I missed ya!” Harley gave his little sister a big hug.

Abbie gladly returned the hug. “Missed you too, Harls.”

When the two separated, Harley gestured over to Peter. “Abbie, I’d like you to meet Peter Parker. Remember? He’s the one I’ve been tellin’ you about.”

Peter’s face flushed, and he stuck his hand out to shake Abbie’s. “H-Hi, Abbie! I’m Peter. Harley’s told me a lot about you. It’s really nice to finally meet you!”

Abbie paused and took a good look at Peter. She didn’t move her hand to shake his. Instead, her face was stoic.

“So he’s a twink.”

Harley let out a dinosaur-like screech and covered his sister’s mouth. “Abbie! What in the hell, you’re 14, you can’t just say that!”

Peter blinked in confusion and looked his body up and down starting at his toes and moving up to his chest. “I’m… a twinkie? Aren’t they, like, an American staple? Are you saying I look like a generic White boy? Because, I mean, you’re not wrong. Or is it that I’m cream-filled? Because-“

Harley let out another screech and covered Peter’s mouth with his free hand. A blush crept onto his face. “Please, darlin’, stop talkin’!”

Peter, however, did not stop talking. His words were only muffled by Harley’s hand. Abbie’s mouth curled into a smirk again Harley’s hand before she moved it away.

“Come on, I want to see Morgan!”

Abbie brushed past the two and headed inside the Tower. Harley’s hand still covered Peter’s mouth, and Peter gave Harley an irritated glance.

“Gross! Did you just lick me?” Harley quickly moved his hand away from Peter’s mouth. Peter stuck his tongue out in reply. In retaliation, Harley wiped his hand on Peter’s shoulder.

“Harley, no!” Peter squirmed away from Harley, but to no avail. Harley wrapped his arm around Peter’s shoulder and led him inside.

“So,” Clint smirked at Tony, “When did those two get together?”

“Oh, no, they’re… not… Not yet, anyway.” Tony rubbed his face with his hands. “Sam, Cap, Bucky, Nat, and Wanda are betting on who’s gonna make the first move.”

Noticing the grin on Clint’s face becoming wider, Tony shook his hands. “No, no, no, please, I am begging you, do not get involved!”

Clint shrugged, grin still plastered on his face. “Come on, it’ll be fun! They don’t call me cupid for nothing.” Clint pulled his arms back, firing an imaginary arrow at Harley’s and Peter’s retreating backs.

Tony shook his head. “Yeah, no one calls you that.”

Abbie ran ahead to the common room while the others were still taking their time, trailing behind her.

“Abbie!” A small voice squealed. Morgan ran up to Abbie and hugged her leg.

“Hey, sugar!” Abbie picked up Morgan and held her on her hip. “How are you?”

“Good! I have tea parties with Harley and Petey!” She giggled.

Abbie hummed as she looked back at her brother and Peter. The two were currently playfully bickering about something Abbie couldn’t fully hear. She could see her brother’s hand dip down and brush against Peter’s side near his hip, and Peter whacked his hand away with a blush on his cheeks. Harley held up his hands in surrender and bumped Peter’s shoulder. Abbie just realized that Peter was wearing a maroon t-shirt that was slightly large on him with “Rose Hill High” and a familiar rose crest printed on the front. Harley, on the other hand, was wearing a tight-fitting light blue t-shirt with “Midtown School of Science and Technology” printed on the front with a school crest that resembled an atom. Both shirts were covered in motor oil and what looked like spider webs to Abbie. At least, Abbie really really hoped those were spider webs.

Abbie rolled her eyes. “Hey, Morgan? Do you like Peter?” She asked the little girl in her arms.

Morgan nodded quickly. “I love Petey! He’s super nice and super smart and super strong!” Morgan leaned in to whisper in Abbie’s ear. “One time, I saw Harley give Petey a kiss on the hand like a princess.”

Abbie wrinkled her nose in disgust. Her brother was soooo cheesy. “Do you think they like each other?”

Again, Morgan nodded her head. “I think Petey wants to give Harley a kiss. Lots of kisses.”

Abbie was happy for her brother, really, she was. He seemed to be head over heels for Peter. But that didn’t mean she didn’t throw up in her mouth a little hearing how stupidly affectionate the two were with each other. And they weren’t even dating!

While Morgan continued to give a very detailed account of how Peter and Harley spent their time together, Peter and Harley continued their hushed argument.

“Harley!” Peter whacked Harley’s hand away from the hem of his shirt. “Cut it out!”

Harley chuckled. “Not my fault you look fantastic in red. And this was your fault in the first place.”

Peter huffed, the tips of his ears turning red. “You made my web fluid explode!”

“And you spilled motor oil on the floor.” Harley retaliated.

About 45 minutes prior to Clint and Abbie’s arrival, Peter and Harley had been working in the lab. Harley was in the middle of fixing the taser web function on Peter’s newly built nanotech suit while Peter was working on what he called “crystal webs” integrated with Vibranium which would become stronger the more it collected kinetic energy. This type of web would be perfect for capture/interrogation and swinging through rough air space. The two had built up a steady work rhythm, neither one losing focus. That was until a spark from the wires landed on Harley’s shirt and promptly caught on fire, and somehow Peter’s trial web fluid turned out to be more acidic and started to burn small holes through his shirt as he stirred it in the beaker.

In a panic, the two threw off the shirts they were wearing onto the floor (DUM-E already began spraying the shirts with the fire extinguisher). Peter hastily reached for a shirt (in the pile of extra workshop clothes Harley, Peter, and Tony kept handy for moments exactly like this), knocking a container of motor oil onto the floor in the process. After Harley grabbed a shirt, he moved to pick up the container of motor oil at the same time Peter was. Unfortunately for them, the oil had spread generously, and the two slipped and landed on the floor. In the process, Harley knocked over a web shooter and launched a web grenade.

Peter was sprawled onto the floor with Harley hunched over him, straddling Peter’s hips. Both of them were beet red and completely still as they tried to process what just happened. The two were stuck in that position due to the web grenade.

And that’s how Tony found them after FRIDAY had alerted him via the “Please don’t burn down the Tower” protocol.

The two didn’t even notice Tony until they heard an exasperated sigh and a ‘Harley, I said not in the lab!’

“You’ve still got webs on you, darlin’,” Harley continued to pick at the sides of Peter’s shirt.

Peter let out a yelp and smacked Harley’s hands away gently. “Cut it out! That tickles!”

“Okay, okay,” Harley held his hands up in surrender. He looked over at his sister and Morgan who seemed to be in a very deep conversation. Morgan was waving her hands very animatedly.

Harley chuckled and walked over to the two, Peter following behind him. “What are you guys talkin’ about?” Harley asked.

Morgan and Abbie looked at each other. Morgan whispers a ‘shhh’ to Abbie before turning to Peter and Harley with a wide smile on her face. “Petey, you promised we’d get a Spidey-bear!”

Peter chuckled and took Morgan from Abbie’s arms. “That’s right, I did promise you we’d go to Build-a-Bear.”

“Can we go today,” Morgan asked, her brown eyes sparkling. “Pleeeeeeaaaaase.”

“Well, I can’t say no to that.” Peter gave Morgan a kiss on the top of her head.

“Can Abbie and Harley come?” Morgan asked with a smile on her face.

Peter nodded. “Of course they can come if they’d like.”

The two turned towards Harley and Abbie with pleading eyes.

“Of course we’ll come!” Harley exclaimed as he wrapped his arm around Abbie’s shoulders. “I want a Spidey-bear too.” He flashed a wink at Peter whose face immediately turned red.

Abbie rolled her eyes. “Cut it out, will ya, or you’ll scar the poor child.”

“Morgan doesn’t mind. Right Morgan?” Harley asked as he picked Morgan up from Peter’s arms and held her high in the air.

Abbie groaned. “I meant me. I’m the child.”

* * *

“It’s kinda crowded in here,” Harley mused as he looked around the cafe. “How about you two find us a table and we’ll get the drinks?”

“Okay! Can I have a strawberry smoothie?” Morgan asked sweetly. “With cream?”

Harley chuckled. “‘Course, baby girl. Your dad’s payin’ anyway.”

Peter and Harley waited in line while Morgan and Abbie chose a table near the back of the cafe.

“Are you a coffee person?” Harley turned to ask Peter who was standing right next to him.

Peter shook his head. “Definitely no. Spidey-sense plus coffee is a really, _really_ , bad idea. Found that out the hard way.” Peter shuddered at the memory. Poor Aunt May came home one night to find Peter attached to the ceiling making himself into a human yo-yo which eventually turned into a cocoon, and Peter woke up the next morning definitely not feeling like a butterfly.

Harley chuckled. “Do I get to hear this story?”

Peter hummed. “We’ll see.”

When it was their turn, Harley and Peter stood in front of the cashier.

“One small strawberry smoothie with whipped cream and a rose matcha green tea latte, please,” Peter asked politely, ignoring the small chuckle that Harley let out after he heard Peter’s order.

“And one red velvet latte and one brown sugar latte for me.” Harley finished, reaching into his wallet for the money Tony had given them.

“Alright, one small strawberry smoothie with whipped cream, one rose matcha green tea latte, one red velvet latte, and one brown sugar latte for you, sugar.” The barista flashed Harley a wink, and Harley grinned in return.

Peter let out a barely audible scoff as Harley paid for the drinks.

“Here’s your receipt!” The barista said sweetly, moving to hand Harley the receipt. Peter took it out of her hand instead.

“Thanks,” Peter said dryly as he moved towards the pickup area and stood near the wall.

Harley gave her an apologetic grin and followed Peter. “You okay?” Harley asked worriedly as he stood next to Peter.

Peter nodded and pretended to be listening for their order to be called. Harley pursed his lips but decided it would be best to let Peter be.

“Hey, Darlin’, what’s their wifi password?” Harley asked as he took out his phone. “Should be on their receipt.”

Peter dug out the receipt he had crumpled and shoved into his pocket. He unfolded it as best as he could and skimmed it for the password.

Harley heard a huff and suddenly, Peter’s hand shoved the receipt onto his chest.

“Dunno, she wrote her number over it.”

Harley bit his lip to keep himself from smiling, but he couldn’t help but let a knowing grin plaster onto his face.

Peter turned to see Harley trying (and not succeeding) to hide his grin. “What?” He asked annoyed.

“Is Petey jealous because someone gave me her number?”

“I am not jealous,” Peter hissed and crossed his arms. “I just think it’s very unprofessional.”

Harley wrapped an arm around Peter’s waist and pulled him closer. With a. chuckle, much to the younger’s annoyance. Harley let his hand rest on Peter’s hip and began to trace small circles with his thumb. “Come on, don’t be jealous, Darlin’. You know I only have eyes for you,” Harley reassured, his voice low and quiet just for Peter to hear. Peter’s face darkened as he looked away. “Do you only have eyes for me?”

Peter shivered and let out a small gasp as Harley continued to gently touch Peter’s waist. Before he could form any response, a loud voice boomed.

“Order number 34!”

“Well, that’s us!” Peter squeaked as he moved out of Harley’s grasp and made his way to grab the drinks.

They took the drinks back to the table where Abbie and Morgan were currently playing Connect 4.

“Yay!” Morgan exclaimed as Peter sat in the seat next to her and Harley sat in the seat next to Abbie. Peter chuckled as he unwrapped a straw, put it in the smoothie, and handed it to Morgan.

The four took turns playing games like Connect 4 and Uno, happily enjoying each other’s company when four figures dressed in dark clothing entered the cafe. A shudder went through Peter’s body as he turned to look at the doorway.

“Petey?” Morgan asked concerned, tugging the hem of Peter’s shirt gently.

Peter’s face was stoic as he kept an eye on the men making their way to the counter. Two stayed near the entrance, which was the only exit apart from the kitchen only the employees had access to.

“Pete, what’s wrong?” Harley followed Peter’s line of sight to see what Peter was looking at. 

“I need you three to stay down,” Peter said in a hushed tone. Morgan let out a scared whimper, but Peter squeezed her hand to calm her down.

Harley nodded, and he could see Peter’s eyes dart between every patron, the windows, tables, everything, in a very calculated way.

“Nobody move!”

The two closest to the cash register pulled out their guns, the two near the entrance doing the same. The patrons screamed and yelled, making a mad dash as far away from the men as they could, ultimately finding themselves with nowhere to flee the building.

“On the ground, now!”

Everyone huddled onto the floors, fear coursing through them. It was silent, save for the scared whimpers of some of the patrons.

Harley moved Abbie under him as they huddled beneath their table. Peter did the same, shielding Morgan’s body underneath his. Two of the men began walking up and down the rows of patrons, making sure no one was able to call for help. Harley held his breath as one passed near them, but he didn’t pay the four much attention. As soon as he came, he was gone.

Harley bit his lip. Tony had put a distress signal in his phone for emergencies. If he could just get-

Harley tried to reach into his pocket as slowly as possible, but Peter gave him a warning glare and mouthed ‘Don’t’. The men were still guarding the patrons, and Morgan was shaking terribly under him. Peter looked at Harley and nodded towards the bracelet on his wrist and then to Morgan and Abbie. Harley only nodded.

Peter tapped his wrist, and the little drone that Peter showed Harley during their date at Central Park flew to the nearest security camera. Harley furrowed his brows, silently asking Peter what droney was doing. Peter didn’t look at Harley though.

Once droney was finished hacking the security camera, Peter’s bracelet chimed at a frequency only he could hear. From there, he maneuvered droney to stick to the ceiling and wait for his signal. Peter turned to Harley, silently asking if he was ready. Harley nodded and firmly planted his palms to the floor, ready to push himself up.

Peter tapped his bracelet again, and web fluid shot out and stuck to the faces of the two men who were guarding the hostages.

“Spider-Man!” They yelled as they began to open fire on the ceiling. They only succeeded in shattering the lights. The patrons began to scream as they covered their heads to shield themselves from the debris. During the chaos, Peter knocked their table over in front of them to create a barrier between them and the chaos, mugs shattering against the floor. Peter pushed Morgan towards Harley before sticking a mechanical spider to his chest. With one tap, the nanotech armor of his signature iron spider suit began to form around him.

“No way,” Abbie whispered from underneath Harley as Peter shot a web onto the ceiling and pulled himself out of hiding. “When were you gonna tell me that?!” She whispered/yelled at Harley.

“Uh… Surprise?” Harley grinned sheepishly. “Look, can we talk about this later?”

“Who even robs a coffee shop? What, were all the banks taken or something?” Peter quipped as he ducked and dodged. “You guys really suck. You know these people make like $11 an hour, right? And maybe tips.”

Morgan reached into her pocket and pulled out a small vile.

“Whatcha got there, baby?” Harley whispered. Morgan grinned and Harley recognized it as a bottle of Peter’s web fluid.

“Give it here, baby.” Harley reached his hand out and Morgan placed it in his hands. Harley rolled the vial towards the men currently shooting at Peter. One man stepped on the vial, breaking it. The web fluid made his shoe stick to the floor.

“What the hell?! I can’t move!”

While they were distracted, Peter snatched the guns away from the men using his webs and stuck them to the ceiling. He used his web grenades to stick them to the wall, but the two men robbing the registers were still shooting at him.

“Okay, that’s not very nice.” Peter stuck to the ceiling to prevent any stray bullets from hitting the bystanders. “You know what, here’s a tip.”

Peter shot out two webs onto their faces and yanked them so their heads his the counter.

“Ooooh... He need some milk.”

Peter watched the two men collapse on the ground unconscious. Soon, police sirens could be heard outside the cafe, and Peter looked at Harley who gave him a thumbs up. Peter nodded and swung down to the ground.

“Gotta blast!”

With that, Peter swung out of the coffee shop and police officers swarmed inside.

The civilians were cleared out and the police began taking statements. Harley held Abbie against his side and carried Morgan out with him. A small black dot buzzed in front of his face. He nearly squashed it when he realized it was droney.

Droney flew into a nearby alley, stopping and looking back every few feet as if it was signaling for Harley to follow it.

“Come on, you two.” Harley led Abbie and Morgan towards the alley quietly, bypassing the police officers taking statements. Droney stopped mid-air and the three stopped, looking around the brick walls and fire escapes for Droney’s owner.

“You okay? Is everyone okay?”

Harley nearly had a heart attack as Peter landed perfectly in front of him after a seamless backflip off the roof. Peter tapped the spider symbol on his chest and the nanotech armor disappeared back into the mechanical spider.

Abbie gawked and Peter stared at her with a blank expression on his face. He looked at Harley, then Abbie, then Harley again. His mouth formed an o.

“She didn’t know?!”

“Why would she know?!”

“I don’t know, you knew!”

“That’s different!”

“How is that different?!”

“Peter!”

“Harley!”

Abbie watched the two bicker back and forth. She looked down at Morgan who looked back up at her with a smile on her face.

Abbie furrowed her brow. “Baby, why did you take Peter’s web fluid?”

Morgan pointed to Harley and Peter who were still currently bickering. “Make them stick.”

Abbie snorted and bounced Morgan in her arms. “Why didn’t you tell me about your plan?”

“Cuz you didn’t know he was Spidey.” Morgan started matter of factly.

Abbie hummed. “Well, next time, I want to help.”

“Secret identities are secret for a reason!”

“Is that why you put on your suit inside a cafe?!”

“I disabled the security cameras!”

* * *

“How is she?” Peter asked Harley after he exited Morgan’s room.

“Sleepin’ soundly surrounded by her mom, pop, and Spidey-bear.” Harley said with a grin as he and Peter began walking to their rooms.

“Good... I’m glad,” Peter smiled softly. “I just... I wouldn’t know what to do if she got hurt...”

“Well, then I guess it’s good Spider-Man was there to save the day.” Harley punched Peter’s shoulder gently.

Peter let out a soft laugh and stopped in front of his door. “Well, this is me.”

His door opened automatically and he began to step inside when Harley grabbed his wrist. “Wait!”

Peter turned to look at Harley. “Is everything okay, Harls?”

Harley took a deep breath and held Peter’s hands in his. “Look, Peter... I like you. A lot.”

Peter felt his face flush as he held his breath.

“I know we’ve only known each other for about a month now, but I know how I feel about you.” Harley lifted one hand to stroke the side of Peter’s face. “You don’t have to answer me now. I’d even prefer it if you didn’t answer me now. But I just had to let you know before... Before anything else happens, you know?”

Harley places a kiss on top of Peter’s head. “Goodnight, darlin’.”

And with that, Harley took his leave. Peter placed a hand over his heart and felt how fast it was racing. His heartbeat drummed in his ears, and his breathing quickened.

“What do I do,” Peter whispered to himself, panicked. “FRIDAY? FRIDAY, can you call Ned and MJ?”

“Sure thing, Peter,” FRIDAY responded. A holographic screen appeared in front of Peter’s bed displaying a “now calling” screen.

Peter sat on his bed, wringing his hands as he waited. Two faces popped up on the screen. “Ned! MJ!”

“Peter!” The two exclaimed.

Although they all moved away for college, the three were still best friends and kept in contact with each other. MJ wasn’t too far away from Peter as she studied at Harvard’s business school. Ned was the furthest away since he chose to study at Stanford’s school of engineering. Ned wanted to stay in California a bit longer before going back to New York for the summer. MJ was currently in Florida with her family.

“MJ, why is it so dark,” Ned asked, squinting at his screen.

“Probably because I’m at the beach.”

Peter and Ned let out an “ohhh”. They could hear the waves in the background.

“So why exactly did you interrupt my drawing time?” MJ asked, her voice teasing Peter.

Ned only shrugged. “I’m just getting boba. Hope you don’t mind the noise.”

Peter bit his lip. “Remember Harley?”

“Oh yeah, how are things going with lover boy?”

Peter blushed at MJ’s statement. “Cut it out… He, ummm, he told me how he feels about me…”

“And?” Ned asked excitedly, leaning forward in his seat.

“And he likes me…” Peter wrung his hands.

“And you’re going to start dating him?” MJ asked.

Peter shook his head and pulled his knees to his chest.

“What? Why?” Ned asked, confused.

“I just… I’m not ready…” Peter mumbled loud enough for them to hear. “He’s really nice… I like him a lot too… But I can’t…”

“Peter… It’s almost been two years…” MJ said sympathetically. “Maybe this will help you heal?”

“B-But... I’m so scared...” Peter whispered. He wiped the tears running down his face. “I can’t- I can’t lose him too...”

MJ and Ned looked at Peter sadly, wishing they could hold him, hug him through the screen. 

“I... I miss him so much...” Peter sniffled.

“We miss Harry too,” MJ said gently. “Peter, if you need me to, I will fly over as soon as possible. Only if you send over one of those fancy jets.”

Ned nodded his head quickly. “Me too, Peter! Tomorrow if I need to.”

Peter let out a sad chuckle. “Thanks, guys... You don’t have to do that... But I really appreciate you saying that. I miss you both so much… Please come visit the Tower some time.”

They stayed on the line with Peter, and they took turns telling story after story about their summer shenanigans until he calmed down enough to doze off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooh, is that a plot I see? :D


	7. I Got You (I Got You First) - Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, sorry that took absolutely forever! I decided to split this chapter into two parts so I could give you guys an update sooner! Hope you enjoy!

Peter woke up forcefully to the sound of arms blaring.

“Emergency alert. Hazard level high. Collateral damage high. Civilians at extreme risk. Emergency alert. Hazard level high-”

FRIDAY continued to repeat the alert as Peter jumped out of his bed. He ran out the door and headed down the hall towards the conference room.

“Pete?”

A voice stopped him in his tracks. He turned his head to see Harley standing in his doorway, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Harley asked in a concerned, tired voice.

“It’s okay, Harls,” Peter reassured. “Just go back to bed.”

Harley scoffed. “Sure doesn’t sound okay. Where are you going?”

Harley moved out of his room to follow Peter, but Peter gently placed his hands on Harley’s chest.

“Please,” he asked softly. Harley could see the fear in Peter’s eyes. “Please stay here, okay?” Peter pushed Harley gently backwards into his room.

“Okay...” Harley resigned, squeezing Peter’s hand.

The two shared a long look before Peter pulled himself away and headed to the conference room. By the time he entered, everyone had already gathered.

“Status report, FRIDAY,” Cap said when Peter came into the room.

A holographic screen appeared in front of them displaying footage of what looked like gang members cornering civilians who were trying to run from the scene. Other members were wearing hazmat suits with thick masks guarding large canisters.

“I know that place,” Peter whispered. It was a poorer neighborhood in queens with a large homeless population.

Steve nodded. “The footage seems to show that a local gang got ahold of some kind of chemical and they’re cornering civilians to gain as large of collateral damage as they can.”

“No,” Peter shook his head. “I know the gangs in the area. This gang is low-level. Mostly illegal weapons dealing, drugs, under the table kind of stuff. They’re definitely not smart enough to get ahold of whatever that chemical is. My guess is that they were hired and they’re waiting for the okay to open those canisters. But you’re right, Cap. I think the people who hired them are using those people as test subjects…” Peter clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles were beginning to turn white.

Steve nodded. “We’ll need a full team for this one. We’ll break up into groups. Hawkeye, Widow, Vision, you’re on crowd control. We’ll have NYPD set up a safe zone, and you two will lead civilians there. Tony, Sam, and Rhodes, you’re our eyes. Keep an eye on those canisters, keep anyone from opening them. We don’t know what’s in them and we don’t want to find out. Peter, Bucky, and I will stay on the ground. Banner, stay here. In case those canisters are opened, we’ll need an antidote as soon as possible. If we need the big guy, we’ll call. Everyone, suit up.”

The team dispersed to their designated areas where their personal weapons were stored. Peter grabbed the mechanical spider and placed it on his chest. His suit formed around him.

“Let’s see... Which web shooter combinations should I have at the ready...” Peter hummed as Karen pulled up his web shooter combinations inside his mask. “Taser webs are always handy...”

“You really are fond of that suit,” a teasing voice came behind Peter.

Peter’s mask melted into the main body of his suit. He turned around to see Tony leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed and a small smile on his face.

Peter grinned. “Of course! I’ve got a lot of memories with this suit. Besides, you made it.”

Tony returned his grin and wrapped his arm around Peter’s shoulder. “I know. I’m pretty great."

* * *

“Oh, yeah, sure. _Let the kid distract them. He talks so much_ ,” Peter mocked and grumbled under his breath as he swung from building to building.

“You do know you’re on comms, right?” Sam’s voice buzzed in his ear. Peter only rolled his eyes.

“ _Almost there. Everyone in position_?”

Peter got the affirmative from the team on comms. He swung up high and landed gracefully onto a lamp post. The crowd beneath him gasped and immediately all eyes (and guns) were on him.

“Everyone. Fellas.” Peter gave a salute to the gang members. “Y’know, it’s a bit too early for this. How about we all just call it a day and forget any of this happened?”

Peter didn’t need super-hearing to hear the distinct click of the guns cocking.

“Okay, they didn’t like that one,” Peter murmured. “Anyone want to hear a joke?”

“Fire!”

Peter flipped off of the lamp post and swung high above the crowd’s heads.

“That’s okay! I couldn’t think of one anyway!”

“ _Black Widow, Hawkeye, are you ready?_ ” Cap asked over the comms.

“ _Already here_ ,” came Hawkeye’s reply.

Two large black vans with SHIELD’s logo printed on the side skidded onto opposite sides of the crowd. Natasha rolled the back door up of one and Clint did the same to the other. The two ushered the hostages inside while Wanda and Vision protected them.

“Aren’t you guys glad that we never gave these back to SHIELD?” Hawkeye said with a grin as he closed the door. “First load ready!”

Vision nodded as he calmed the other hostages. “Please remain calm. We are here to protect you.”

“Hey, guys?” Peter continued to swing between buildings to distract those guarding the canisters. “They’re shooting, but they’re not moving an inch. I’m gonna get closer.”

“That is inadvisable.”

Peter furrowed his brows as he swung right towards two guards protecting the canister. “Why? What’s wrong, K-”

“ _Pete? Pete, what’s wrong?_ ” Tony asked concerned as he heard a loud smack over the comms.

“Hey, guys? We have a bit of a problem…” Peter groaned as he got up off the ground and swung back onto a nearby lamp post. “There’s some kind of electromagnetic field shielding them.” Peter tossed a rock in the general direction of the canisters and a bright green field faded in and out of sight.

“ _And another problem_ ,” Sam said over the comms. Peter looked up and saw white-colored drones seeming to appear from thin air. They began firing at the crowd below.

The civilians screamed and ran in every direction. Wanda floated into the center of the crowd and created a red forcefield above their heads.

“Will someone please take care of those things?” Wanda asked, irritated by the drones.

“You know, of all the things I expected to happen today, I did not expect to be ambushed by drones.” Peter huffed.

Peter used a lamp post to swing above two drones that were targeting civilians. He shot them both with taser webs and watched them fall to the ground in a heap of smoke.

Beside him, Sam flew past in his falcon wings shooting down drones as he flew by.

“17” Peter heard Sam say through the comms.

Peter grinned beneath his mask. “20.” Peter shot two more drones with his webs and pulled them downwards so they crashed into each other. “22.”

Peter dodged a bullet that flew right past his face and into a drone behind him.

“ _25_ ,” came Bucky’s smug voice from the comms. Peter looked down to a nearby rooftop where Bucky saluted him with two fingers.

“You could have hit me!”

“ _But I didn’t!_ ”

Sam snickered and deployed a drone of his own, red wing, to help.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” Peter continued to destroy more drones firing on the crowd of people. He swung up over the roof of a building when the sharp sound of feedback in his ears sent him tumbling down.He skidded to a stop on the roof and held his head until the feedback disappeared.

“ _Hello, Spider-Man_ ,” a deep voice with a heavy New York accent rumbled through his comms.

“Communications intercepted.” Peter heard KAREN’s quiet murmur in his ear as a red alert message appeared in front of his eyes.

Peter rolled his eyes. “Hey, Kingpin. How’s the completely legitimate business that totally isn't a coverup for criminal activity? Haven’t heard from you in a while.”

The voice chuckled. “ _Fine, thank you. I know I’ve been a little quiet recently, but I’ve been preparing a little surprise for you, Spider-Man. I didn’t expect you to bring any friends though. You see, my lead scientist needed a few… live subjects, if you will, to test a new compound she’s been working on. I promise the gas is completely harmless. Probably._ ”

“You’re sick,” Peter growled.

“ _It was never my intention for anyone to get hurt_ ,” Kingpin responded nonchalantly. “ _Do as I say and no harm will come to these fine civilians._ ”

Peter looked over the ledge of the roof. He could see civilians running around aimlessly as they panicked. The other avengers were doing their best to guide them to the vans to safety while battling the flying drones and the gang members guarding the canisters. Wanda shielded the medics from stray bullets as they gathered the wounded. Peter hoped no one was fatally injured.

“ _Call off your friends and I call off my friends._ ”

“ _Kid? Hey, kid! I think I found a way to short out these energy fields! Where are you?_ ” Tony’s voice entered through the comms in Peter’s left ear, full of static and the words somewhat broken.

Peter grinned beneath his mask. “No deal, Kingpin! KAREN shut him out.”

“ _Hey-!_ ” Kingpin’s voice cut out as KAREN regained control of Peter’s comms.

“Guys, I know who’s behind all of this!” Peter moved to jump off the side of the building and swing to the others when a long mechanical arm knocked him back onto the roof. Peter held his side with a groan as he regained his balance.

“Sorry, Spider-Man,” a voice chuckled. Mechanical legs grounded themselves onto the concrete of the roof. “I can’t let you ruin all of my fun.”

Peter groaned in annoyance as a figure rose above him. “Oh great, it’s Liv.”

She scoffed. “That’s Doc Ock to you.” A mechanical arm drove straight towards Peter, but he dodged it effortlessly.

Meanwhile, Tony launched small contraptions from his suit that landed at the foot of each barrier. “Where’s the kid?” Tony asked through the comms. He looked to his side where Cap used his shield to protect two civilians as he ran them over to Hawkeye and Vision. “I’m about to bring these walls down.”

“ _Little. Preoccupied_ ,” came Peter’s wheezing response. Tony looked up towards the building where Doc Ock was currently dangling Peter in the air, choking him with a mechanical arm.

“Kid!” Tony exclaimed. He readied his repulsers to fly to Peter but was immediately bombarded by blasts from the drones.

“ _I’m fine! Everything’s fine! It’s just at the moment I’m losing the fight._ ” Peter groaned in pain as Doc Ock dragged him across the side of a building, shattering the windows in the process. “ _’m fine! Promise! Just gonna keep her occupied…_ ”

Peter looped two webs around the base of Doc Ock’s mechanical arms and used them to propel him upwards to kick her in the face.

“See? Kid’s fine,” Sam landed next to Tony. “We’re the ones that need backup.”

Tony looked around. By now, the civilians were almost cleared out of the area. After about two more trips by Natasha and Clint should clear them out fully. The only thing left to do was bring down the barriers and take the canisters. There were a total of six canisters with at least four people guarding each of them.

“Alright everyone, stay sharp! Once the rest of the civilians are evacuated, wait for my signal! And stay away from those canisters! We don’t know if they have remote detonation.” Tony called out through the comms.

Above them, Doc Ock looked down with a smirk on her face.

“Hey, don’t forget about me!” Peter kicked her back away from the edge of the roof.

“How could I forget about this annoying bug.” She bit out as she sent her mechanical arms to grab him. Peter, however, dodged them effortlessly.

“You missed!”

“Did I?”

An electric field connected the four mechanical arms grounded in the concrete of the roof. Peter exclaimed in pain as electric shocks ran up his body through his suit. She lifted one mechanical arm to grab him.

“Wow,” Peter groaned in pain as he felt himself being lifted in the air. “You really added some new upgrades to those things.

Doc Ock shrugged. “I’ve had some free time. Want to see what else I’ve got up my sleeve?”

Peter watched as Doc Ock pressed a button on the gauntlet she wore on her wrist. Then, the drones seemed to disappear into thin air.

“Like it?” She asked with a smirk. “ Kingpin got it made specially by our good friend Adrian Toomes. That is before you got him arrested.”

His eyes widened as he watched the drones continue to fire on the others down below. The blasts from the drones seemed to push everyone closer and closer to the canisters.

“So that’s your play,” Peter whispered. “You were never after the civilians. You were after us.”

Doc Ock smiled menacingly. “Actually, I was after you. But this was a delightful surprise.” She used the mechanical arm that was dangling Peter to throw him as far as she could. He smacked right into the side of the building. She jumped down and landed in the middle of the battlefield.

“Time for me to disappear too.” She pressed another button on her gauntlet and soon disappeared from sight.

“Where’d she go?” Sam asked as he flew above. Suddenly something gripped his waist. “What the- Ahhhhh!”

“Sam!” Cap exclaimed as he saw Sam being flung onto the ground. “Tony, any luck?”

“Can’t pick up any heat signatures,” Tony responded as he tapped his helmet to flip up the part that covered his face. “And I’ve only been able to shoot down the drones by after they shoot at us.”

“ _Guys, guys, guys,_ ” Peter’s panicked voice filtered through their comms.

“Kid, where have you been? Everything’s going to sh-”

“ _Stay away from the canisters!_ ” Peter interrupted Tony. “ _Doc Ock and Kingpin are planning on releasing the gas on you! Well, me, but now you’re all here so also you, and they have alien tech from Vulture so now the drones are invisible and-_ ”

“Slow down, kid. Where are you?” Tony asked concerned.

“ _I’m swinging as fast as I can! Look, I have an idea. Wanda, are you up for it?_ ”

“ _Of course, Peter. Let’s finish this._ ”

Doc Ock laughed in glee as she flung Hawkeye and Black Widow into the energy fields. “I didn’t think it would be this easy to take on the Avengers.

“Now, Spider-Man!”

Doc Ock felt herself being lifted up into the air, red energy glowing around her throwing her into the side of a building. She soon found herself webbed to the wall.

“I give that landed an 11/10,” Peter commended himself as he landed on the light post in front of Doc Ock

Doc Ock groaned. The reflective paneling that kept her invisible shattered. “Lower the energy fields! Release the gas!” She called into her comms.

“ _But our men-_ ”

“I don’t care! Just do it!”

The end of her mechanical arms turned into blades and cut through Peter’s webs. She began to climb up the side of the building to escape, but Peter trailed after her. “Not so fast!”

Doc Ock halted to a stop and grabbed Peter by his neck. “You’re too late!”

Peter squirmed in her grasp. He looked down and saw the green noxious gas start to pour out of the canisters.

“Goodbye, Spider-Man,” Doc Ock smirked. She lifted one mechanical arm and the end of it turned into a rotating saw blade. She brought it closer and closer to his neck. Peter flinched as pieces of the nanotech plating began to chip off.

“KAREN, activate taser webs,” Peter choked out as he shot a web at the gauntlet on her arm. Before KAREN could short out the gauntlet, Peter heard the familiar sound of a repulser whirring before a bright orange beam shot at the Doc Ock’s arm.

Doc Ock exclaimed as she lost her balance and dropped Peter onto the roof.

“Who did that!” Doc Ock lifted the mechanical arm that was broken and grit her teeth. “Iron Man!” She used her remaining three mechanical arms to propel herself at the Iron Man suit.

A bright orange glow beamed from the chest of the suit and shot Doc Ock right off of the building, plummeting to the ground below.

The suit dropped down onto the roof right in front of Peter. While Tony’s signature suit was red and gold, this suit was red and silver. And where Tony’s arc reactor would glow blue in the center of the suit, this suit was powered with an arc reactor of its own which glowed bright, warm orange.

The faceplate lifted up and a familiar face greeted Peter with a smile. “I got you.”

Peter scooted back in shock.

“H-Harley?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harley being Iron Lad… @Astronomy9913 totally called it!


	8. I Got You (I Got You First) - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! I forgot to mention this before, but if ANYTHING in the previous chapters or the future chapters resembles something from SPIDER-MAN FAR FROM HOME, please please PLEASE do not mention it in the comments! If you want to comment on it, be as vague as possible. I do not want to spoil anything for those who haven't yet seen Far From Home. If there is a spoiler in the comments, I will delete it. But I really don't want to do that because I really appreciate all the comments you guys leave me :( So no spoilers PLEASE and THANK YOU!

_Harley packed up the last few items in his shed into a box then carefully taped it shut. He looked around at the other boxes stacked neatly on top of each other. There weren’t a lot of them—maybe 6 medium boxes all together. Harley had packed everything from each little robot to pieces of scrap metal he had tucked away in a corner hoping they would be useful for some project later on. Harley was far too proud to call himself the sentimental type, but he had far too many fond memories here with Abby and his mom-_

_Harley wiped the tears pooling at the corner of his eyes. He really needed to check if Abby was done packing her things._

_“Hey, kid, you done packing?”_

_Harley turned to see Tony leaning against the doorway to the shed._

_“Yeah, I just finished. I can start loading the jet.” Harley moved to pick up a box, but Tony stopped him._

_“Don’t worry about it. That’s what the suits are for.” Tony clapped his hands and three Iron Man suits flew in and began to carry boxes to the quinjet._

_Harley whistled. “How many suits do you have?”_

_Tony only shrugged. “I found something productive to do with the anxiety, although Pepper would disagree. I just couldn’t stop making them and I obviously can’t use all of them, so I gotta put them to use somehow.”_

_Harley nodded. “Thanks for everything, by the way… You didn’t have to pay for the funeral—“_

_Tony held his hand up to quiet Harley. “I wanted to.”_

_Tony waltzed around the now empty shed and walked towards the covered car in the center. He pulled off the gray cover and whistled. “Wow, she’s in mint condition. Have you even driven her?”_

_Harley rolled his eyes. “You got it for me when I was 11. Of course I haven’t used her. Besides, I wasn’t gonna take her to my mechanic jobs.”_

_Tony only shook his head. “Well, we’ll fly it back to New York, but I doubt you’ll enjoy driving there.”_

_Tony continued to look around the shed. His suits moved two boxes and Tony furrowed his brow when he saw what was behind them._

_“Is that what I think it is?” Tony asked Harley incredulously as he walked towards it._

_Harley rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Yeah… Don’t laugh, okay, I was 13. I built it off of memory.”_

_Tony looked at the replica of his Iron Man suit sitting in front of him then at Harley then back at the suit. “Does it work?”_

_Harley nodded. “It flies, if that’s what you mean. Definitely not as high as yours. I never flew in it though, just controlled it remotely. No fancy AI either. It runs on something similar to your arc reactor, but I have no idea why it’s orange.”_

_“Huh…” Tony circled the suit and inspected it carefully. There were repulsers on the palms just like his. He tapped the orange circle in the middle of the chest plate. “Definitely better than the first one I made. What’s it called?”_

_“Wh-What?” Harley asked, his face flushed pink._

_“Well, Iron Man is trademarked so you’d be in some legal trouble if you called your suit Iron Man too, so what’s yours called?” Tony shrugged._

_“Promise not to laugh.”_

_“I’m not going to laugh.”_

_“You have to promise.”_

_“Fine! I promise.”_

_Tony crossed his arms and tapped his foot as he waited for Harley’s response._

_“Iron Lad…” He mumbled._

_“I’m sorry, what was that?”_

_“I said, Iron Lad! I was 13! Hey, you promised not to laugh!”_

_Tony bit back his laugh and rubbed the tears from his eyes. “I’m sorry, but it’s just so adorable. I had to laugh.”_

_Harley huffed and Tony took a seat on one of the boxes. He looked at Harley’s suit thoughtfully. “You know, I’ve been doing some thinking lately—”_

_“Wow, really?”_

_“Don’t interrupt my wise monologue here! I only make these like twice a year, let me have my moment.” Tony cleared his throat. “As I was saying, I’ve been doing some thinking lately. I’m not getting any younger and now I’ve got Morgan with me. And I’ve been thinking about the future and who’s going to keep saving people after me, us, the Avengers,” Tony waved his hand, “To clarify, I’m not actively scouting anyone, not holding any auditions or anything like that. This is just between you and me. If you say no, then I’m not going to be heartbroken over it. I’m not going to find some other kid to stick in a suit. But if you do want to, and I mean only if you’re 100% on board with this, I’ll make sure you’re as prepared as possible. There’s no way I’d send you into the field cold. I’ll even ask Cap and Bucky if they’re willing to be your personal trainers. We can work on your suit together—”_

_“I’ll do it.”_

_“And make sure it’s properly— Wait, really? Just like that?” Tony asked._

_Harley nodded. “Yeah. I mean, right now, I just don’t know what I’m meant to do—”_

_“So you want to be a superhero until you figure it all out?”_

_“Let me finish, old man. I don’t really know what I’m meant to do right now. I just want to figure out a way to do what I do best and help people too, y’know? Tony, I’m not like you. I’m not a genius. I don’t even know what I did to make that thing work.” Harley pointed at his suit._

_“But you did make it work.” One of Tony’s suits came and gently nudged Tony signaling it wanted to grab the box from beneath him. Tony moved off of the box and grasped Harley by his shoulders. “There is a part of you that understands how. Many people have tried to make replicas of my suit and 9 times out of 10 those people have blown themselves up trying. You’re smart, Harley. You’re smarter than you realize. You just need a little guidance.”_

_Harley wiped the corner of his eyes and cleared his throat. “Quit gettin’ soft on me, old man… I’m not really in the mood for cryin’…”_

_Tony chuckled and the two moved off of the boxes they were sitting on to let the Iron Man suits finish grabbing the last few boxes. The two walked towards the door to the shed, Tony’s arm wrapped around Harley’s shoulder._

_“You’d really let the Captain America and the Winter Soldier train me to be a superhero?”_

_“Of course! I gotta make sure you stay safe somehow, and I can’t think of anyone better to show you the ropes. And I’m definitely not letting Natasha train you. That woman is terrifying and she’s already taught Peter 15 different ways to either kill or grievously injure someone using a scarf.”_

_“Who’s Peter?”_

_Tony shrugged. “Eh, just another sassy teenager I’ve taken under my wing. I have a feeling that you two will get along pretty well.”_

_Harley held his hand against his chest in mock insult, “I can’t believe it. You replaced me. That’s why you’re being so nice. You just want to get back in my good graces.”_

_Tony only rolled his eyes._

* * *

“Hey,” Harley gripped Peter’s shoulders and inspected him for injuries. “You okay? You've got some holes here in your suit. Gotta patch that up...”

Peter was still in a confused daze as he continued to stare at Harley in his suit. “Hot— I mean, how, hey! Hi! Wh-Whatcha got there?”

“Like it?” Harley gestured to his suit. “Made it myself. Tony helped me give it some much needed upgrades though.”

Peter stuttered. “Why? Here? Now?”

“That’s a... long story,” Harley grinned sheepishly. “I’d love to tell you sometime. Maybe over dinner?”

Before Peter could reply, mechanical whirring and the sound of bricks crunching interrupted the two. Harley snapped the faceplate of his suit back down and the two turned to Doc Ock who had made her way back up the building.

“So, you gonna let me in on this plan of yours?” Peter heard Harley ask through the comms.

“Harley Keener, did you open up a private channel?” Peter asked teasingly. “Why are we whispering?”

“Didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of the Avengers,” Harley chuckled. “This is my first time out in the field, after all.”

Underneath his mask, Peter gaped. He shook his head and commanded himself to focus. “So, we don’t know what the effects are of inhaling the gas in those canisters.” Peter flipped over Doc Ock’s head and webbed one of the three remaining mechanical arms. Harley flew up behind Peter and blasted the arm off, causing Doc Ock to stumble and lose her balance.

“So the plan was to get her to release the gas and then have Wanda encase it in a magic bubble-”

“Magic bubble?”

“I didn’t know what else to call it! Anyway, we can have her release the gas in the air because it would just fall back down since it’s so dense, and that would probably affect even more people, so-”

“So you need to find a way to counter it.” Harley finished Peter’s sentence. The arc reactor in the chest piece of his suit glowed and hit Doc Ock straight in the chest, holding her in place on the roof. “May I suggest setting it on fire?”

Peter rolled his eyes. “That can’t be your solution to everything, Harls. You might blow up the whole block.”

Harley pretended to swoon. “I love it when you call me that, Darlin’.”

A mechanical hand shot towards Harley, but Peter pulled it back with his webs and tore it off. “I got you.”

Harley scoffed and blushed. “Well, I got you first.”

A high-pitched buzz rang in their ears and a familiar voice called through their comms as their private channel shut down.

“Hey, no private channels during missions.” Tony scolded. The two boys flushed.

They heard Sam cackle through the comms, “Oooh, you’re in trouble now, lovebirds.”

Peter was about to stutter a response when Tony beat him to it.

“Harley, I’m gonna need you down here. Help me move anyone without a filtration mask up to higher ground. Can’t believe that crazy lady would release the gas on her own team mates.”

“Yeah, I don’t really think she’s a team player,” Peter grumbled.

“Some of these guys are starting to react to the gas, we have to get them back to the Tower stat. Rhodey, Sam?”

“On it.” They both responded.

“Good. Pete, I’m sure you can handle your multiple legged friend over there?”

“Yeah, I got her,” Peter turned as Doc Ock began to steady herself on the two remaining legs. “Go Harley, I got this!”

Harley nodded and flew down to the ground to help Tony.

“Awww, is your friend leaving already?” Doc Ock asked in mock insult. “I thought he’d stay to play a little while longer.” She lunged at Peter who easily dodged and drove her straight back into the rooftop. The top half of her body dangled over the edge of the roof while Peter held her in place. She turned her head and gasped as she saw her work being undone, the gas being contained by Scarlet Witch.

“No!” She cried.

Peter’s vision narrowed as he saw some of Doc Ock’s men convulsing on the ground while Tony and Harley carried them away from the gas.

“I thought you said this wasn’t supposed to hurt anyone.” Peter said sharply.

Doc Ock merely shrugged. “There’s only so much you can learn from lab tests and mice, my dear. Sometimes you need real test subjects.” She smirked at the image below her. “But I got the answers I was looking for. It does work.”

Peter followed his gaze. He watched as Cap collapsed on the ground and began to cough violently until Sam picked him up and carried him away.

“But how?” Peter asked in shock.

“Why don’t you see for yourself?”

Doc Ock broke a vial in front of Peter’s face and soon he was engulfed in a small cloud of gas. He gasped and coughed as it began to enter his suit.

“KAREN, what’s wrong? Why isn’t it filtering?” He sputtered. A blueprint of his suit appeared in front of him and pointed at the hole in the neck that Doc Ock had created earlier. Peter vision began to blur as he staggered away from the ledge. He gripped his head tightly. He was so, so dizzy...

“Peter, I detect that this gas has targeted neuronal connections. Your endorphin levels have spiked. Would you like me to-”

KAREN’s voice faded away. Peter shook his head as his vision finally cleared.

“That... That wasn’t so bad,” Peter mumbled to himself as he blinked. He coughed, his chest still felt tight.

“Hey, hon.”

Peter froze at the sound of a familiar voice. Peter looked up and recognized the smug smile, soft pink lips, and curly dirty blonde hair.

“H-Harry?”

Peter stood on shaky legs and reached out towards the figure, but it seemed like no matter how many steps forward he took, he never got closer.

“Harry, is that you?” He choked out a sob as he ran forward.

The Harry in front of him shook his head. “No Peter. You killed me, remember? You killed both of us.”

Peter froze in his place. Tears streamed down his face. “I... killed you?”

The image in front of him changed and Harry disappeared. Peter screamed for him to stay. When the new image settled, Peter squinted at the bright light that took its place and shielded his eyes with his hand. When his vision became accustomed to the light, he stared at the scene in front of him. Peter stood at the center of a railroad yard. Empty trains and blowing dust made it feel more like a ghost town. A monstrous being laid in front of him on its back, breathing heavily. Peter looked down. In his hand, he held what looked like an epi-pen.

“That’s right,” Peter thought as he clutched the vial in his hands. “That’s Green Goblin. Harry’s in there. Harry took the Green Goblin serum. We had a fight. Because Harry’s dad... Harry’s dad died. Because I killed him- No! Because of the Green Goblin serum...” Peter shook his head. He couldn’t focus. “And if I give this to Harry, then he won’t die! He’ll be okay!”

Peter ran forward towards Harry. He ran as fast as his wobbling legs could carry him.

“Harry, it’s okay!” He cried. “I can save you! I can save you!”

This time, Peter could feel himself getting closer and closer to where Harry laid. If he could just get closer, give him the antidote, it would all be okay.

Peter fingers barely grazed Harry’s body. Then, a rush of wind. A scream ripped from his throat, though Peter could barely hear it over the booming sound of a train’s whistle. Everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for the next chapter: Peter and Bucky make a support group for people personally victimized by trains :D (I'm just kidding, please don't hurt me, I promise Peter gets better)


	9. One-Way Mirror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s hard to be the one who watches. Steve knows it best. Harley learns the hard way. Tony and Pepper are left to pick up the pieces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mentions of serious injury

“Someone get me Strange right now!”

Tony’s voice was steady, completely opposite of how shaken he currently was. But he needed to be steady, stable because Harley was trailing behind him. Steady yet shaken. After the job was finished, Tony had sent Wanda back to the Tower. Through the comms, Harley cried his name over and over again, and Tony’s veins ran cold.

“I’m right here, I’m right here, Harley. What happened?”

Tony only heard incoherent babbling.

When Tony approached their coordinates, he saw Harley kneeling on the ground, sobbing and clutching a very battered, bloodied Peter. The nanotech scales were ripped from the suit in several areas, the left side of the face missing. The uncovered areas on Peter's body were a terribly gruesome sight, but Tony saw that Harley had tried to administer first aid as best as he could. He used Peter's web fluid to cover and keep pressure on the deep cuts on Peter's body. Most importantly, Tony noted that Peter was breathing. Blood pooled at the corner of his mouth. His eyes were shut tight and his body was limp in Harley's arms.

Harley found him. Tony carried him back to the Tower’s med-bay.

“Stay here, Harley,” Tony gently commanded the boy as he carried Peter into an operating room and laid him on the operating table gently. Dr. Strange soon appeared through a golden portal. Harley watched through the one-sided window as they fussed over Peter. He couldn’t hear a single word they said.

After a few minutes, Tony burst through the doors. “Barnes, where’s Barnes?” he practically yelled. Bucky ran down the hall of the med-bay and met Tony in front of the door to the operating room.

“Barnes, I need you to help me hold him down,” Tony tried to hide the shake in his voice. “His system is already flooded with whatever is in that gas, we can’t put him under. Strange has to stitch him up right now or he could bleed out.”

Bucky only nodded and followed Tony into the room. Harley presses his hands on the glass as he watched Bucky and Tony hold Peter down as best as they could without hurting him, but Peter writhed in pain regardless.

Harley felt two gentle hands shield his eyes and turn him away from the window.

“Don’t watch, Harley...” Pepper’s voice was gentle as she rubbed Harley’s back. “I’ll come get you when they’re done.”

“Pep...” Harley choked out a small sob. “I wasn’t fast enough...” Pepper shushed him and rubbed his back.

“He’ll be okay,” Pepper reassured and led him away.

* * *

Tony and Pepper sat next to Peter’s bed, holding each other’s hands tightly. Above them came FRIDAY’s steady hum as she scanned Peter’s body. Peter’s face was still littered with cuts and bruises but was much cleaner than how Tony had found him. Peter’s neck was cradled in a white neck brace. A deep blue blanket covered him.

Stephen entered the room with a clipboard in his hands. He quietly asked FRIDAY to pull up the images of the scan.

Tony exhaled through his nose. “How bad is it…”

Stephen cleared his throat and pointed to the x-rays of Peter’s back. “The impact of the train caused an axial burst fracture in his L2, L4, and L5 vertebrae. It also severely displaced his fourth thoracic vertebrae… It’s not good, Tony,” he explained, trying to hide the pain in his own voice.

Tony clenched his jaw and nodded while Pepper rubbed his back.

“Why isn’t he healing?” Pepper asked, voice barely above a whisper. She didn’t bother looking at the x-rays. She just stared at Peter’s sleeping face.

“Whatever was in that gas… Apparently, it stopped his super healing. But it should return once the effects of the gas have run its course. That’s what happened with Cap,” Stephen reassured. “But Peter inhaled a higher dosage of the gas than Cap did, so his recovery time could range from a few weeks to up to two months.”

Again, Tony nodded stiffly. “Any idea what the gas did to him?”

“According to what Dr. Banner has found, the gas stimulates a region in the brain—the amygdala—which primarily processes memories and emotions. It’s more commonly associated with fear. We believe that this gas somehow stimulates the brain to the point where it forces a person to relive a memory that they fear, almost like a living nightmare.” Stephen explained. “I’ll leave you two for a moment to check on the others… Call me when he wakes up…” With that, Stephen took his leave.

Tony let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m sorry, kid…” He whispered as he held Peter’s limp hand. He stood up abruptly and turned towards the door.

“Where do you think you’re going, Tony,” Pepper asked tersely as she too stood up.

“Where do you think I’m going?” Tony asked with a huff. “I know who did this to him. Fisk, Kingpin, whatever the bastard’s name is.”

“So you’re just going to march in there, guns blazing,” Pepper asked as she crossed her arms.

“If that’s what I have to do, yes! I’m not letting him hurt Peter again!”

“On the surface, Wilson Fisk is a generous philanthropist and businessman and one of the wealthiest benefactors for dozens of local New York charities. You have to think this through, Tony!” Pepper raised her voice to match Tony’s. She cupped his face in her hands and pressed their foreheads together. “I want him to pay too, but we have to be smart about this. They were after Spider-Man, they created this weapon specifically for him.”

“They could’ve killed him, Pep…” Tony sniffed as he rubbed his face in his hands.

A soft groan turned their attention back to the bed where Peter lay and they rushed back to their seats. Peter’s eyes slowly fluttered open and squinted at the brightness of the room.

“FRIDAY, dim the lights please,” Tony asked the AI as he grasped Peter’s hand. “Hey, kid. How do you feel?”

Peter groaned as he slowly gained consciousness. “Like I’ve been hit by a truck…” he replied with a small smile on his face.

Tony’s lips curled up slightly. “Close.”

Peter shifted in the bed to get comfortable and immediately a look of fear crossed his face. “Why can’t I feel my legs?”

Tony grasped his shoulder trying to still him. “Kid, it’s okay.”

“Why can’t I feel my legs?” Peter asked louder. “Why can’t I feel my legs! Dad, why can’t I feel my legs!”

Pepper buried her face in her hands to quiet her sob. Tony hugged Peter’s upper body tightly. “The train, it broke your spine in three different places. The gas temporarily stopped your speed healing, but you’re going to be just fine, okay? I promise. I promise.” Tony gently petted Peter’s hair as Peter cried in his arms.

“But what if I’m not?” Peter sobbed.

“You will,” Tony said confidently. He rocked Peter gently as he continued to sob on his shoulder.

* * *

“I wasn’t fast enough,” Harley whispered as he wrung his hands. He stood in front of the window staring down at the city below. Steve gripped Harley’s shoulder gently, not saying a word.

They were in the communal room. The others—Clint, Wanda, Vision, Sam, Rhodey—sat on the couches in heavy silence.

“KAREN, she told me that he got hit with that gas and I tried to find him,” Harley sniffed as he wiped the corner of his eyes. They were puffy and red with the irritation of frequent rubbing. “I found him, and it was like he was movin’ on his own, just running and yelling at something I couldn’t see. Then he shot a web at this rusty old crane and swung— he just swung right in front of it.” Harley choked back a sob as Steve continued to listen.

“I diverted all of my energy to the thrusters… All of it, I swear! But I couldn’t get there in time… I don’t know… I don’t know how far it carried him… I didn’t even check to see if there was anyone in there… Just shot at it and shot at it until I could push it off of ‘im…” He turned to look at Steve. “I tried, I really tried… I just didn’t know how to help…” Harley lifted his shaking hands. “Should’ve learned more first aid instead of learnin’ how to fight. I couldn’t do anythin’—”

Steve wrapped Harley in a tight hug. He rubbed Harley’s back and let him cry onto his shoulder. “It’s not your fault. I promise you it’s not your fault.”

Harley only sobbed.

Steve continued to stand there in front of the window comforting Harley the best he could. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bucky slowly approaching them. Harley moved out of Steve’s grasp and tried to calm his breaths.

“He’s awake now,” Bucky said softly to everyone in the room. Everyone turned their heads towards him. “Only a few at a time though. And not for too long. Strange says he needs to rest.”

Everyone moved towards the elevators, Harley leading the pack. Steve and Bucky stayed. When everyone had gone, Bucky placed a hand on Steve’s shoulder. Steve rubbed his temples and looked out at the city below them.

“How are you feeling, punk?” Bucky asked concerned.

“Like I had an asthma attack for the first time in almost a hundred years,” Steve replied cheekily with a sad smile.

Bucky nodded. “The kid… How’s he holdin’ up?”

Steve shook his head. “It’s hard, you know… Being the one that watches…”

Bucky saw tears slowly pool at the corner of Steve’s eyes. He pulled Steve into a tight hug.

“I’m here,” Bucky reassured as he stroked Steve’s hair. “I’m here…”

“I know…” Steve choked as he held Bucky tightly. “I know…”

Their quiet moment was interrupted by the slow clacking of heels against the tile. The two soldiers looked up to see Natasha’s hardened face as she approached them.

“Where have you been?” Steve asked, not bothering to hide his tears from her.

She simply handed him a folder. “The train yard Harley found Peter in. They stopped all trains moving in and out of the battle zone in a 10 block radius.”

Steve grit his teeth as he opened the folder and scanned through the documents. “You’re right. That train shouldn’t have been there.”

“But it was.” Natasha crossed her arms. “They wanted him there.”

Steve tore the folder in half. “Who.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I don't know much about anatomy, but Peter's injury is based on the injury of a character from CW's Flash. I know this chapter is shorter than most and I'm sorry for the sad chapter ahead :( I promise it'll go back to being light-hearted soon!


	10. Remembering Sunday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter’s body begins to recover, but his heart still remembers. Harley learns about Peter’s past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter is inspired by the song Remembering Sunday by All Time Low

“Now, try wiggling your toes.”

Peter stared at his toes, his jaw set as he concentrated. He let out a frustrated sigh. “I can’t...”

Stephen patted his shoulder. “That’s okay. Here, take a look.”

Stephen asked FRIDAY to pull up Peter’s newest x-rays to compare them with the first x-rays. “It’s only been two days, but the healing process is already beginning. Once you’re able to wiggle your toes, we can get to work on some physical therapy-like exercises. Sound good?”

Peter nodded as best as he could with the neck brace on.

“Alright, call me if you need anything. I’ll be in the lab with Dr. Banner.”

Stephen gave the boy one last look and smiled gently before disappearing into a portal with a whoosh.

Peter hummed softly. “Wish I could do that...” He closed his eyes to try to fall back asleep, but a knock on his door prevented him from slipping into unconsciousness.

The door opened and Tony’s head poked through. “Hey, kid. You’ve got some visitors.”

Tony stepped inside and a small figure followed him, hiding behind his legs. Peter chuckled. “Morgan? Why are you hiding from me?”

Morgan peeked out from behind her dad’s legs and ran towards Peter’s bed. “Don’t like seeing Petey hurt...” she said sadly. Tony helped her onto a chair.

“I told Morgan that you were pretty bored here by yourself and she insisted on bringing you all of your favorite things.” Tony explained with a smile.

Morgan nodded quickly and she held up her Iron Man bear, Spidey bear, and flower coloring book.”

“Awwww, Morgan, you’re the best!” Peter grinned. He pulled out the table near his arm and gestured for Morgan to place the coloring book on it so they could both color. As Morgan tucked the two bears by his side, a thought dawned on him.

“FRIDAY, can you pull up the local news, please?” He asked.

Tony places a hand on his shoulder. “Pete, I’m not sure that’s a good idea right now. You’ll only make yourself more impatient and patience is the most important thing right now. I promise you, we’re taking care of it.”

Peter bit his lip. “But Mr. Stark, I promised these kids that live near Del Mar’s that I would play basketball with them, because they have an odd number group and of course I can’t let one of them sit out because you know how kids are, they’ll get all caught up and forget about their friend. And the Ramirez family is planning on making a community garden on the roof of their complex, but they need help getting everything onto the roof and I said I would help, and I promised the library I would play Scrabble with the ESL students and-”

Tony waved his hand to quiet the boy. “Alright, alright. How about you and I make a list of all of your Spider responsibilities, and the rest of us will try our best to follow through or at least let people know why their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man didn’t show. Sound good?”

Peter shifted his gaze away from Tony and nodded sadly. “Yeah... That sounds fine... I just really wanted to be there...”

Outside a lone figure leaned against in front of the window to the room, watching from the one-way glass. He watched sadly as Morgan, Tony, and Peter began coloring, itching to join them.

“You must be the famous Harley Keener.”

Harley turned to see a woman with long brown hair holding a plastic bag filled with what looked like cards. She was young, but the lines in her face showed that she had been through a great deal of stress and pain in her life. Yet, she still had a bright smile and positive aura around her. Harley immediately felt relaxed.

“Ummm, yes ma’am. I’m Harley.” He reached out his hand to shake hers.

She shook it and gave Harley a grin. “I’m May. May Parker, Peter’s aunt.”

Harley’s eyes widened and he shook her hand more enthusiastically. “O-Of course! Peter’s told me a lot about you, ma’am. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

She laughed. “It’s nice to meet you too, Harley. Peter’s told me a lot about you.”

Harley blushed and bit back a smile. “Good things, I hope.”

She giggled. “Oh, of course. You’re even more handsome in person.” Harley’s face turned bright red which only succeeded in making her laugh more. “Ah, young love. Come on, let’s go inside.”

May took Harley’s hand and led him into the room. “Peter, look, I brought you a present.”

Peter blushed and his eyes widened as he looked at Harley. This was the first time that Harley had come to visit him. Harley, however, looked away. Although he was one of the first to rush down to see Peter when he first woke up, he couldn’t step foot into the room when he saw Peter hooked up to several machines, his face still battered and bruised.

“Hey...” Peter said softly.

“Hey...” Harley replied softly. Tony patted a chair next to him and motioned for Harley to sit down. May sat on the unoccupied side of Peter’s bed and dumped the bag of cards onto his lap.

“What’s this?” Peter asked confused as he saw the handmade cards which varied in color. Most of them had drawings on the front created with crayons or colored pencils. Peter picked up one card. On the front of it was a crude drawing of Spider-Man with webs in the background. Stuck to the webs were childish iterations of some villains he had fought. Peter chuckled as he opened the card and read the handwriting inside. “Get well soon, Spider-Man. Love, Evelyn.”

May smiled softly. “When the kids at the hospital found out that Spidey was injured in a fight, they started making these cards.”

Peter wiped away the tears that were pooling at the corner of his eyes. “Thanks, May. This makes me really happy.”

Together, they read a few more cards and colored some drawing with Morgan. Morgan recounted the past few days to Peter telling him about how Sam has tried to stop a robbery, but the civilians were more freaked out by him than the robbers and how Cap had tried to make him a batch of get-well-soon cookies but ultimately failed, leaving Bucky to salvage what was left of the batter.

The stories left Peter nearly crying with laughter, but his smile softened whenever he would look at Harley. Harley hadn’t said a word to him since he arrived, choosing to interact mainly with Morgan. Tony noticed the tension between the two and moved to pick up Morgan.

“Well, miss Morguna, I think Pete’s had enough of coloring for now. How about we go grab your tea set and the cookies and we can have a tea party?”

Morgan cheered and cleaned up her coloring book and pencils. May eventually got the hint and stood up as well.

“I need to discuss some things with Pepper and see if I can get a few days off of work to spend with you. I’ll be right back, sweetie.” May kissed Peter’s forehead and followed Tony out of the room. Harley and Peter were left together in silence.

After a few minutes had passed, Harley cleared his throat. “I-I should go too... I was in the middle of patching up your suit and...”

Harley trailed of when Peter grabbed his hand. “Stay, please... Besides, you promised you would tell me about how you became Iron Man Junior.” Peter grinned when Harley groaned.

“I dunno which name’s worse- Iron Man Junior or Iron Lad.”

Harley recounted the day Tony found his Iron Lad suit and Tony’s offer. Peter held his hand as Harley remembered the funeral and flying out to New York, the days that followed, how Cap taught him basic self defense, Bucky showing him the best way to bench a truck, and how he fell from the salmon ladder the first few times.

Harley chuckled. “Yeah, that was embarrasin’. Fallin’ on your back right in front of the Captain America.”

Peter chuckled. “If it makes you feel any better, one time I stole his shield and he dropped a jet bridge on me.”

Harley whistled. “Kind of wish I had super strength.”

Peter laughed. “Eh, it’s a blessing and a curse. When I first got my powers, I was so scared to open doors for a while. I kept tearing them off the hinges and just placing them back since I couldn’t fix them.”

The two laughed, the tension between them slowly dissipating.

Peter hummed. “So why be a super hero?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Harley countered with a grin.

Peter stuck his tongue out. “Yeah, well I asked first.”

Harley shrugged. “I was just at a point where I was lost. Felt like I was wandering aimlessly. It’s not that I wasn’t good at anythin’. I was pretty decent at a lot of stuff. There just wasn’t anythin’ i was passionate about. So I figured, start with the biggest, most ridiculous thing. That way I can be like, well, maybe being a superhero isn’t what I’m cut out to do. Maybe I should go back to bein’ a mechanic. Y’know?”

Peter shook his head jokingly. “That’s quite the thought process you’ve got there.”

“Hey, go big or go home,” Harley flashed Peter a wink and Peter’s face flushed. Harley sighed and squeezed Peter’s hand. “Guess I’m not really that great of a superhero though...”

Peter cupped the side of Harley’s face. “Harls... You can’t.. You can’t always save everyone... It’s a hard lesson to learn, but hey, I’m here aren’t I? And I’m getting better, little by little. Please don’t blame yourself...”

Harley reaches his hand up and placed it over Peter’s.

Peter sighed. “I guess I should take my own advice first, huh...”

“What do you mean?” Harley furrowed his brows.

Peter closed his eyes. “That gas... It made me remember something... Something that happened about a year ago...”

Harley gripped Peter’s hand as Peter continued his story.

“I had this friend...His name was Harry, Harry Osborn. You’ve probably heard of Oscorp Tech, right?”

Harley nodded. Oscorp was a competitor of Stark Industries. When Hammer Tech failed, Oscorp took over for manufacturing new weapons.

“Well, Harry started going to Midtown Tech, my high school, during the second half of sophomore year. I was his student mentor, had to show him around and stuff, and we just... clicked.” Peter smiled softly at memories Harley couldn’t see, and Harley’s heart twisted in his chest. “We became really good friends... And we started... dating junior year.”

Harley nodded and looked away from Peter. He tried to slip his hand out of Peter’s grasp, but Peter didn’t let go.

Peter took a deep breath. “His dad, Norman Osborn, was working on some serum, kind of like Cap’s. But it went wrong... He became what he called the ‘Green Goblin’. And I tried to keep Harry from ever finding out about it. Eventually, the serum took too much of a toll on Norman... I tried making a cure, but I was too late... During a fight, he just collapsed, reverted back to his normal body... And Harry saw me, Spider-Man, standing over his dad’s dead body... From that day forward, he hated me... Well, Spider-Man... And he took the same serum as Norman because he wanted his revenge... But see, Harry’s always been sickly, ever since he was a kid. The serum, it destroyed him...”

Tears ran down Peter’s face and Harley wiped them away gently with his thumb. “I’m sorry, Pete...”

Peter nodded. “I couldn’t save him... And everyone tells me it wasn’t my fault, but I can’t help but feel like it was...”

Peter gripped Harley’s hand tighter. “What happened to me wasn’t your fault, Harls. Please believe that...”

Harley nodded and placed a kiss on Peter’s hand. “I’ll try... For you, Pete...”

Peter yawned and Harley moved to get up, but Peter held him back.

“Stay... Please?”

Harley chuckled and laid on the edge of the bed. “Alright, but I’m warnin’ ya, I snore.”

Peter giggled as Harley laid on his side as best as he could with the limited space. The two closed their eyes and FRIDAY dimmed the lights in the room automatically. Their hands were still intertwined.

Outside the room, Tony and May watched the two with fondness.

“Do you think he’s ready?” Tony asked softly.

May hummed. “Peter has lost a lot of people in his life... It takes some people a while to realize that part of love is pushing past the fear of loss. I think that, when he’s ready to let Harley in, he will.”

Tony smiled and held out his hand. “Welcome to the team.”

May furrowed her brows in confusion. “The Avengers?”

“No, Team Leave Them the F*ck Alone.”

May only laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, another update this week??? I hope you guys feel spoiled, haha! Let me know in the comments if you're enjoying the story so far, any dates you'd like to see Harley and Peter go on, etc! Thanks for the support, everyone!


	11. R.E.S.C.U.E.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harley has been dancing around Peter ever since he learned about Harry. Peter is annoyed that Harley keeps avoiding him, but Peter is even more upset when he finds out that Harley has taken over his Spider-Man duties while he is recovering, and the two get into a very heated argument.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a pretty long chapter! I hope you all enjoy! 
> 
> Note: Harry Osborn is loosely based on the James Franco Harry Osborn from Spiderman 1, 2, 3. It's mostly just his physical attributes.

Harley adjusted his tie and straightened out his jacket. The Tom Ford suit he was wearing felt foreign and his toes felt pinched in his leather shoes, but Tony insisted that he look the part.

“You’ll wrinkle your jacket if you keep that up,” Happy remarked from his spot in the driver seat.

Harley huffed. “I’m used to jeans and a tee, Happy, not this fancy business stuff.”

“I know, kid. But it’s just for a few hours. You remember your assignment?”

Harley nodded. “Gather intel, do not engage under any circumstance.”

Happy smiled. “Good. Remember, things go sideways, ring me and I’ll pull up front with an SI emergency at the ready.”

Harley nodded as Happy slowed to a stop. He waited until Harley opened his door and set the glasses Tony had given him onto his face. “SOPHIA?”

“Hello, Harley,” the soft voice of the AI greeted him. “Recording in process.”

“Good girl,” Harley mumbled. He and Happy walked side by side inside the building. The space was open, stark white, almost too clean. People bustled in and out of the building, not paying any attention to Harley.

“How may I help you, sir,” a woman at the front desk asked Harley as she put down the phone.

Harley cleared his throat. “My name is Harley Keener. I’m a representative from Stark Industries sent in place of Ms. Potts.”

“Oh, of course!” The woman gleamed as she typed furiously on her computer. “Our CEO was so excited that Ms. Potts was open to the possibility of collaboration with SI that he is going to personally accompany you on a tour of Oscorp Technologies.”

Harley nodded. Behind him, heavy footsteps approached the desk. Harley heard the rhythmic clicking of a pen.

“Mr. Keener!” An enthusiastic voice with a heavy Brooklyn accent called from behind him. Harley turned around to see a bald, heavyset man wearing a sharp black suit hold out his hand.

Harley grinned and shook his hand. “You must be Mr. Fisk, the CEO of Oscorp. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.

“No, no, it’s my pleasure, really.” Wilson Fisk grinned. “I was really surprised that Ms. Potts agreed to send someone to meet with me. After all, SI never really agreed with Oscorp’s business ever since they shut down the weapons division, but that was under Osborn family. I assure you that Oscorp Technology has gone under a complete reformation.”

Harley nodded as Wilson Fisk led him to an entrance further into the building.

“Ah,” Fisk stopped. “I’m afraid your security guard can’t come with us. After all, only you and Ms. Potts have signed the nondisclosure agreement, and I’d hate for any of our designs to be leaked into the public. It’s a necessary precaution for us, but I promise my men are plenty capable of keeping us safe.” Fisk motioned to the team of security guards trailing behind them.

Harley nodded towards Happy and Happy nodded back, signaling his exit. Once Happy left,Harley, Fisk, and the security detail entered the elevator.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t you change the name of the company when you bought it?” Harley asked, trying to break the awkward silence in the elevator.

“Well, Norman Osborn and I were very good friends,” Fisk explained. “After the circumstances surrounding his and his son’s death, I bought the company to ensure their legacy lives on, may they both rest in peace. I didn’t dare change the name.”

To anyone, Fisk’s explanation sounded rather genuine. But Harley felt tense and uncomfortable being face to face with the man who, underneath, wanted Spider-Man-Peter- dead. He grit his teeth harder with every click of Fisk’s pen.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened with a ding.

“My head scientist has been very generous. She insisted to be the one who gave you a personal tour of her lab and what we’ve been working on!”

Harley and Fisk stepped out of the elevator, and Harley was greeted with a familiar face that made his stomach drop. Her hair was a mess of curls pulled back with a hairband. There was a small cut above her lip and the bruises on her face were barely noticeable under her makeup. She held out one hand towards Harley, the other clutched a clipboard against her chest.

“Hello, you must be Mr. Keener, the representative from Stark Industries! I’m Dr. Olivia Octavius.”

* * *

"You’re doing great, Pete,” Rhodey beamed with pride as he followed behind Peter. Currently, Peter was walking between two wooden bars which he held to keep his balance. Although his steps were rather wobbly, progress was progress. 

“Thanks, Uncle Rhodey,” Peter grinned as he continued to walk to the end of the bars. “You know, I didn’t realize how knees move when you walk.”

Rhodey nodded. “Yeah, I remember working through that too. You’re already doing a lot better than me though. I looked like this.” Rhodey straightened his leg and stiffly bent his knee at an awkward angle. Peter laughed as he leaned against the bar.

Rhodey acted as Peter’s physical therapist during his recovery since he had very similar firsthand experience. A week and a half passed and Peter’s recovery began moving quickly once his speed healing kicked in. Peter no longer needed his neck brace, and May and Rhodey took turns helping Peter with his exercises. When Peter wasn’t in physical therapy, he used a special walker designed by Tony or Dum-E would happily fetch Peter a snack when Peter didn’t feel like getting out of bed.

The elevator doors opened and Harley quietly walked into the common room and saw that Peter was currently with Rhodey. He stuck close to the wall and watched as Peter continued to practice walking between the bars.

“You’re gettin’ better every day, Pete.” Harley smiled.

Peter stopped and as Harley walked up to him. Peter could feel his face flush as he watched the way Harley loosened his tie. He really should wear suits more often... “Hey,” Peter smiled back. “What have you been up to? I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while…”

Harley shrugged. “I’ve had work…”

Rhodey looked back and forth between the two before clearing his throat. “Well, Pete, I’m gonna go get some stuff from the training room to help with your exercises… Be right back.”

Rhodey left the two alone and silence soon overtook the room. Peter leaned against one of the bars and kept his eyes on the floor. Harley rubbed the back of his neck.

“Hey, man!”

Peter squeaked and gripped the bar tighter and Harley jumped and gripped Peter’s arm gently. Scott waved at them happily as he regained his normal height. Beside him, Hope returned to her normal height.

“Hi, Hope! Hi, Scott! How’s Cassie?” Peter waved with a smile on his face.

Harley gaped at the two. “How the… What the… How did they?” Harley motioned to the ground and then to Hope and Scott as he looked back and forth between them and Peter.

Scott shrugged. “New guy, I thought they briefed you on this. We infiltrated Oscorp with you! How do you think we did that?”

Harley sputtered. “I thought you were watching me from the cameras, I didn’t think you were the size of an atom!”

“Actually, the size of an ant.”

“Not the point!”

“Excuse me, what.” Peter crossed his arms and looked intensely at Harley. “What were you doing at Oscorp?”

“I told you, I had work,” Harley huffed. “Pepper sent me as her representative.”

“Yeah, and he did great! Even got a tour of their science lab from the head scientist, Dr. Olivia Octavius!”

Harley turned towards Scott and made a cutting motion with his hand near his neck, trying to signal to Scott to stop talking. Beside him, Peter was silently fuming.

“Scott, I think we should debrief with the Captain,” Hope said as she tugged Scott’s arm, feeling the tension in the room.

“See ya in there, Harley!” With one last wave, Scott and Hope exited the room.

Harley turned towards Peter whose arms were crossed and lips were pressed into a tight line. “Listen, Pete, I can explain-”

“What’s there to explain? Your first real fight was less than two weeks ago and now you’re out running around trying to, what, catch Kingpin and Doc Ock? Do you understand how long I’ve been after them, how long they’ve been after me?”

Harley groaned in frustration. “Gee, Pete, I’m sorry I’m takin’ _your_ baddies and doing _your_ job while _you’re_ not in commission!”

Peter ran a hand through his hair and huffed. “My job? What else have you been up to!”

“Patrolling! Backing up cops, sting ops, keeping people safe!”

“Are you even ready for that kind of stuff? This is a big deal, Harley. Oscorp is extremely fortified and has security almost as strict as SI, not to mention whatever Kingpin has underground. He’s not some thug, Harley, he’s a mobster with connections to all kinds of people, even HYDRA!”

“So that’s what this is? You don’t think I’m competent enough to handle myself out in the field? Tony thinks I’m ready!”

“Well, maybe Tony’s wrong!”

Peter covered his mouth as soon as the word tumbled out of his mouth. He watched Harley’s body straighten and his jaw snap shut.

“Harley, no, I didn’t mean…”

But Peter’s apology came too late. Harley already turned and left the room in long strides. Peter tried his best to follow but stumbled at the end of the wooden bars. Soft hand wrapped him from behind and helped him regain his balance.

“Woah, slow down there, Peter.”

Peter turned around, tears beginning to pool at the corner of his eyes. “I messed up, Pepper…”

Pepper helped Peter walk over to a couch and sat him down.

Peter stared at his hands in his lap. “How much of that did you hear...”

Pepper tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. “All of it... I’m sorry, Pete. It was my idea to let Harley gather intel on what Wilson Fisk is doing at Oscorp and that gas. I know Oscorp is a touchy subject for you but-”

“It’s not that, Pep! It’s Harley! Harley was in there with two people who want nothing more than to kill me! What if he got hurt o-or they realized what he was doing!” Peter rubbed his face with his hands. “I’m so sorry, Pepper, I shouldn’t shout...”

Pepper rubbed his back gently. “Why are you so worried about Harley, sweetheart?”

“He-He’s not like the rest of us, Pep... He’s not a super spy or ex-assassin or super soldier or any soldier. He’s just-”

“A man in a can?” Pepper asked with a soft smile.

Peter looked away. “Sorry...”

Pepper shook her head. “I feel that way all the time with Tony, Peter. Superpowers won’t always keep them from harm. You should know that best.”

Peter nodded his head sadly.

Pepper stroked his hair. “You should trust him more, Peter. He is much more capable than I think any of us realize. He just needs us to believe in him.”

Peter nodded again and sighed. “I think I’ll head back to my room for a bit...”

Pepper helped Peter stand and walked him back to his bedroom.

* * *

“So, Oscorp has been developing a kind of ‘truth serum’?” Steve asked as he read over the report. 

Hope nodded. “The serum is meant for governmental use as a more humane alternative to extracting information. The serum places the injected individual in a dream-like stupor as they relive positive memories. During this state, the individual will answer any question without resistance.”

Tony hummed and shut his folder. “That’s quite a front. Still positively terrifying.”

“Good work today, Team. You’re dismissed.” Steve approaches Scott and Hope and began some small talk with them. “So, how long will you two be staying at the Tower?”

Tony wrapped his arm around Harley as they walked towards the lab. “So, kiddo, what’d you think of your first mission report? Or, uh, what do the kids these days call it... Tea spill?”

Harley scoffed. “Don’t ever say that again, old man. Are they always that boring?”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, you’re lucky this was a simple mission. Or else it would have been longer.”

Harley scoffed. Peter didn’t think it was so easy.

“What was that, Harls?”

Harley shook his head. “I think I’ll change and head to the training room first and blow off some steam. I’ll meet you in the lab later.”

Harley darted out of the corridor before Tony could ask any questions. He passed by his room to change into a white tank and some grey sweatpants, haphazardly tossing his three-piece suit onto his bed. He didn’t really care if it got wrinkled at this point.

When Harley got to the training room, he ran a few laps to get himself warmed up. As he looked around, he realized that he never really came to the training room by himself. All of his workouts and sparring sessions were either with Steve or Bucky.

“FRI, okay somethin’ loud,” Harley said as he began to stretch.

“Sure thing, Harley.”

A familiar riff started blaring from the loudspeakers in the training room and Harley grinned as he recognized it to be Back in Black by AC/DC. “Yeah, that’ll do, FRI.”

Harley began his workout on the salmon ladder. Gripping the bar tightly, he held his breath as he flexed his abdomen and jumped the bar up the first rung. There was a time where Harley couldn’t even get the bar to move up a rung without it slipping, sending him falling onto the floor. But after a lot of practice, it became one of Harley’s favorites. He didn’t know how many repetitions he did, but thoughts about what Peter had said to him started creeping into his mind.

_“Well, maybe Tony’s wrong!”_

Harley jumped down from the salmon ladder and moved to wipe the sweat from his forehead with the bottom hem of his tank top. Harley looked around the room for something else he could do. Right now, he didn’t feel like lifting weights without anyone to spot him. He settled for the punching bags instead, picking up a pair of gloves from Tony’s boxing ring.

Now, Harley never tried boxing, much to Tony’s chagrin, but it couldn’t be that hard. Harley pulled on the gloves and began hitting away at a red punching bag dangling from the ceiling. With every hit came a memory, a memory of failure.

A punch. Harley remembered the night his dad left and his mom waited. Harley knee his dad wasn’t coming back, but she still waited, probably until her last breath. Harley couldn’t protect her from heartbreak.

Another punch, and Harley remembered the only other time in his life when he wore a suit. The day of the funeral. Here lies Julia Rose Keener. It was a small ceremony. His mom was an only child and his grandparents passed away years ago. Other than Abby, Tony, a few townspeople and friends of the family came to the funeral. All Abby wanted to do was grieve in peace and quiet, but the town ladies wouldn’t stop coming up to her offering their condolences. Harley couldn’t protect her from loss.

Another. Harley remembered being alerted by KAREN that Peter was in imminent danger. Harley remembered seeing Peter stumbling on the ground, screaming at the air in front of him before using a web to launch himself into the air. Right as the train plowed into him with no sign of stopping. Harley diverted all power to his thrusters, but it wasn’t enough to get there in time. When he did get there and managed to blast the train off of Peter, the damage was already done. Harley couldn’t protect him from the pain.

One punch stung Harley’s left wrist. He pulled his hand back with a hiss.

“Your form’s all wrong. You’re gonna sprain your wrist like that.”

Harley turned his head slightly and saw Bucky slip on a pair of boxing gloves.

“Y’know, the Winter Soldier might have trained Black Widow, but James Buchanan Barnes taught Captain America how to throw a punch.”

Harley grinned cheekily. “You sure you were a good teacher? I hear Cap got punched more times than he landed any before the serum.”

“Haha, very funny. Hold your hands like this.”

Harley continued punching the bag in front of him, this time with the techniques Bucky showed him.

“You’re a fast learner,” Bucky complemented, hitting the bag next to Harley’s.

Harley stopped for a moment to remove his gloves and take a swig from his water bottle. “Bucky?”

Bucky grunted next to him.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me about Harry Osborn?”

Bucky stopped hitting the bag. He turned to look at Harley whose eyes were wandering around the room.

“Pete told you?” Bucky asked, leaning against the boxing ring.

Harley nodded.

“We didn’t tell you because we knew that it wasn’t our place to tell you. It was Peter’s,” Bucky explained.

Harley rubbed the back of his neck. “Is that why you wanted me to take things slow?”

Bucky nodded and crossed his arms. “Cap, Sam, and I—we like you. We were one of the first to get to know you when Tony brought you to the Tower. Since the first day we met you, we thought, hey, Pete is gonna really hit it off with this guy.”

Harley smiled softly and looked at the ground.

“We thought that maybe you’d be the one to finally pull him out of his grief, as a friend or even as something more.” Bucky placed his flesh hand on Harley’s shoulder.

“I’m just... I feel so confused and conflicted...” Harley sighed.

“Why?”

“Peter already had someone else in his life before me, but now... How can I compare to a dead man?”

Bucky laughed and hit Harley upside his head. Harley let out a groan in pain. “You don’t have to compare yourself to anyone. You don’t have to compete with anyone. Pete likes you for you, not because you can give him something Harry can’t. Got it?”

Harley nodded, but Bucky knew he still didn’t believe him. “Get changed and get to the lab. I hear Tony’s been pouting ‘cus his two favorite lab partners aren’t spending any time with him.”

Harley rolled his eyes. “Is he always this dramatic?”

Bucky shrugged. “Yeah.”

* * *

Harley found Tony in his lab spinning absent-mindedly in a chair rattling off numbers as he stared at the ceiling.

“Boo!”

“Mblergh—5,990,130!”

Harley burst out laughing when Tony fell off of his chair.

Tony sent Harley a swift glare. “Haha, very funny. But it won’t be so funny when I set your suit schematics back to the training wheels protocol.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Harley stuck his tongue out and grabbed a seat next to Tony. “What are you workin’ on?”

“Well since you’ve taken over working on Pete’s suit and your own, I’ve been fixing up the air filtration system in Rhodey’s suit and making masks for everyone else. Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner…” Tony sighed as he laid the mask prototypes on the table.

“You can’t predict every situation, Tony. Don’t worry about it.” Harley picked up one of the masks and looked over it.

Together, the two looked over Tony’s blueprints and prototypes, running test after test until they got things just right.

“Bucky’s mask has to be different than everyone else’s,” Tony explained as he created a holographic replica of the masks they were currently making.

Harley turned his head to the side and walked around the hologram. “How come?”

“Winter Soldier wore a mask. I know T’Challa and Shuri got rid of his trigger words, but I don’t want to risk anything that might make him, you know, go berserk.” Tony waved his hands around.

Harley nodded. “Maybe we can add a big smiley face to it. Kinda like the cat from Alice in Wonderland.”

Tony let out a small laugh. “Oh, he’d definitely love that. Y'know, I always thought of him as more of a Mad Hatter type. I’m gonna get something for us to eat. Want anything specific?”

Harley shook his head. “I’m fine with anything. Just Gatorade to drink though, please. The blue one.”

“You got it.” Tony wiped his hands on a rag and headed up to the kitchen.

Harley continued to look at the current design for the masks. From the pictures he saw of the Winter Soldier’s mask, it covered his nose and mouth, leaving space for his eyes. It almost looked like a muzzle. Harley shook his head, he only knew basic information about Bucky’s time under HYDRA’s control. The only issue was that the mask needed to cover the nose and the mouth. Harley needed to find a way to make it look less muzzle-like.

Harley yawned and rubbed his eyes. “FRI, what time is it?”

“It is 9:37 PM, Harley.”

Harley hummed, waving away the mask hologram to his left side. “Hey, FRI? Can you look up something for me?”

“Of course, Harley. What would you like me to search?”

Harley wrung his hands and looked towards the door. “Can you give me any information on Harry Osborn?”

“Sure. Harold "Harry" Theopolis Osborn, son of wealthy industrialist Norman Osborn and Emily Lyman. Former heir to Oscorp Technologies, a multibillion-dollar corporation that is constantly pushing boundaries in the science and medicine fields.”

Around him, FRIDAY pulled up photos of Harry. Most of them came from magazine covers and tabloids. Harry was handsome, anyone could see it. He had a strong, square jaw and curly, dirty blonde hair. In the photos, Harry gave off a nonchalant vibe, a smirk always playing on his lips. He seemed to have a bit of a rebellious nature considering the handful of articles surrounding his impulsive, carefree nature.

“After flunking out of several private schools, Harry enrolled into Midtown School of Science and Technology through a very generous donation from his father. Rumors suggested that this was the last straw for Harry. If Harry did not stay in school, he would lose his spot as the heir to Oscorp Technologies. Harry was set to graduate in the spring of 2017. However, tragedy struck the Osborn family.”

Harley nodded. “It’s okay, FRIDAY. I know the rest of the story.”

Harley flipped through a few articles. Most of them before Harry transferred covered his scandals of underage drinking, unlicensed driving and street racing, and more. But after his transfer to Midtown, those stories seemed to die down. Instead, more articles surfaced on Harry’s academic achievements and growing interest in biochemistry. Harley read an article that was written during Harry’s junior year. The interviewer asked him questions about colleges he was planning on applying to, what he would be studying, who was his biggest inspiration.

_“Harry, it’s no secret that you’ve matured a lot these past few years. People are very curious to know how this change was brought about? Care to touch on that a bit?”_

_“Well, Johnny, I think it’s because of the friends I’ve made here at Midtown. They’ve looked past my family ties and saw who I really am. I know everyone knows that my dad paid my way into Midtown, but after meeting one of my closest friends, Peter, I started to realize that I was actually pretty decent at school. He’s the reason I became so interested in biochemistry. That, Johnny, is why Peter is_ _my best friend. He never gives up on me. I'm not an Osborn to_ _him. I'm just ‘Harry’.”_

Harley smiled sadly at the sentiment. Harry was truly fond of Peter.

“You don’t look anything alike if that’s what you're thinking.”

Harley leaned forward on the work table, not bothering on hiding the holographic articles in front of him. “I get why Cap and Bucky and Sam didn’t tell me, but why didn’t you?”

Tony plopped a plate of grilled cheese in front of Harley and sat in his rolling chair. “Alright, take a seat.”

Harley sat down next to Tony and Tony waved away the holograms. “There was bad blood between me and Norman Osborn, not that it really mattered when it came to Harry and Pete. I didn’t hate Harry, but I didn’t love him either. Rhodey says it’s because I was ‘too overprotective’ and ‘didn’t want Peter to start dating’ or whatever.”

Tony threw Harley the Gatorade he asked for. “Anyways, they never went public with their relationship, for obvious reasons, Pete being Spider-Man and all. They really really liked each other. They were even planning on getting an apartment together at MIT.”

Harley looked down at his shoes and Tony chucked the crust from his grilled cheese sandwich at his head. “Then Norman started terrorizing the city as Green Goblin, died a very unfortunate death, Harry blamed Spider-Man, started to terrorize the city as Green Goblin junior, and also met the same fate as his old man. I think that’s everything. Any questions or are you gonna keep moping?”

Harley ran his fingers through his hair. “I know I shouldn’t feel whatever it is I’m feeling right now, but I can’t help it, Tony!”

Tony hummed and nodded. “What are you feeling? Jealousy?”

Harley shook his head and hung his head low.

Tony sighed. “I get it, I think… It’s one thing to learn about someone’s ex, it’s another to learn about someone’s dead ex.”

“It seems like they were really happy together…” Harley sighed. “I feel like… Like I’m taking something away from both of them…”

Tony hummed and gave Harley a swift pat on the shoulder. “I think communication is key.”

“Communication…” the two mumbled in unison. After a few seconds, the two scrambled from their seats and to their respective work stations.

“If we can speed up the communication between the suit’s central system and the filtration system—”

“We won’t have to rely on the mouth and nose pieces to act as the main centers of filtration.”

“I calculate a 90% increase in filtration efficiency.” FRIDAY finished for them.

Harley and Tony grinned at each other as they got to work.

* * *

Peter sighed as he stared up at the holographic screen above his head that projected an episode of The Office that Peter wasn’t paying attention to.

“Hey, FRIDAY? What time is it?” Peter asked, bored out of his mind.

“The time is currently 1:36 AM. Would you like me to tell Dum-E to fetch you a glass of water?”

Peter shook his head. “No thanks, FRI. I think I’ll take a walk. I feel so restless.”

“That is inadvisable, Peter. In the unlikely event that you fall, it will be a while before anyone can help you. Everyone is currently asleep, even the boss. The only person awake is Harley and he is in the lab.”

Peter hummed. “Well, in that case, I should go to the lab. Thanks, FRIDAY.”

Peter tapped a bracelet on his wrist and his walker slowly rolled towards him. He grabbed a blanket and draped it over the front of the walker. He gripped the handles and stood up on shaky legs and made his way towards the nearest elevator.

Inside the elevator, Peter felt his hands shake in anticipation. He took a deep breath. “You can do this, Peter. Just say you’re sorry.”

The elevator doors opened with a ding and Peter took the familiar path towards Tony’s lab.

Peter tapped the glass door. “Harley?”

When Peter didn’t get a response, he opened the door slowly. Harley was at his workbench tinkering away at Peter’s suit. He set the headpiece down. With a stretch of his arms, he yawned. “FRI, run diagnostics please.”

FRIDAY scanned the Spider-Man suit. “Filtration system efficiency up 18% from the last diagnostic test, Harley.”

Harley rubbed his eyes. “Only 18%? That’s not good enough, FRI…” Harley picked up a screwdriver and began dismantling the suit’s headpiece.

Harley barely registered when two warm hands wrapped around his chest. A head of soft brown hair rests against his shoulder. “Harls, it’s bed o’clock…”

Harley couldn’t stop the smile that crept onto his face. “That so? They why aren’t you in bed?”

Peter shrugged. “I got bored laying in bed all day… And I couldn’t sleep after saying those horrible things to you… I’m sorry Harley, I didn’t mean it…”

Harley stroked Peter’s hair gently. “It’s fine, Pete… Don’t worry about it…”

“But it’s not fine, Harls. I didn’t mean to say that Tony was wrong in choosing you to be Iron Lad or that you weren’t capable! I don’t doubt that you’re perfectly capable of handling yourself. I just—I was just worried about you… I don’t want to see you get hurt…”

Harley moved a chair over to let Peter sit down. “You mean it, Pete? Do you really think I have what it takes?”

“Of course I do.” Peter brushed the chair aside and opted to sit in Harley’s lap instead. Peter cupped Harley’s face in his hands and pressed their foreheads together. “I promise I won’t doubt you from now on.”

Harley’s face flushed dark red. He placed his hands gently on Peter’s back to make sure he was balanced. “D-Didn’t you say it was bed o’clock, Darlin’? I, uh, I think we should both head to bed. Our own beds, I mean, in our individual, separate rooms.”

Peter laughed and rested his head on Harley’s shoulder. “Carry meeeee. I’m too tired to walk.”

Harley rolled his eyes as he stood up and let Peter wrap his legs around his waist. “This is so unfair. You’re the one with super strength.”

Peter stuck his tongue out. “I’m not even that heavy. Stop being dramatic.” Peter whistled at his walker to follow them. It obediently trailed behind Harley as they headed to the elevator.

“Y’know, that was the first time you called me “darlin’” in a while…” Peter noted, deep in thought.

Harley shrugged and cleared his throat. “Oh… I didn’t notice.”

Harley stopped in front of Peter’s room and let him down slowly. He made sure that Peter had a steady grip on his walker before he left for his room. Peter gripped Harley’s wrist lightly. “Hey, Harls… Is something wrong? Between us, I mean.”

Harley shook his head quickly. “No! I mean, of course not. I’m sorry, I’ve just been a little out of it, you know? Just tired…”

Peter nodded his head sadly. “Yeah… I totally understand. Get some rest, Harls. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Pete.” Harley began walking to his room. Peter followed suit.

“Man… That was really cute and really sad at the same time…” Scott said in his minuscule form as he watched from the vents above them. “I thought you said new guy and Peter had the hots for each other.”

“They do! I swear,” Clint said as he crossed his arms. “Things are just… a bit tense between them, that’s all. I know exactly how we can fix this.”

“Ooooh, how?”

Clint rubbed his hands together in a mock sinister fashion. “It’s my time to shine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got any ideas for pranks Scott and Clint can play on Harley and Peter? :D Leave a comment below


	12. NOTE

Hi, guys!

This isn't an update, but I just wanted to say that school is starting for me next week so I will be updating really slowly, but I do not plan on abandoning this fic! I have a chapter in the works and hopefully I'll get it to you guys real soon. 

Thanks for sticking around! I love you!


	13. Stupid Cupid (Stop Picking on Me)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and Harley apologize to each other, but things between them are still tense. Scott and Clint visit the Tower. How better to break the tension than with a few choice pranks?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOOOOOOW, it's been forever since I've touched this story. I'm really sorry about that lol. Hopefully this chapter is long enough to make up for it? :D Enjoy!
> 
> Recommended: Listen to "Stupid Cupid" by Mandy Moore while you read!

Harley hummed as he wrapped the towel around his waist. He felt sweaty, tired, and incredibly sore after his training session with Bucky and Cap. Bucky was insistent on getting Harley to the point where he could bench a truck (‘Just a small one,’ Bucky cried as he moved to add more weight to the barbell. Bucky easily dodged the American flag-themed shield that flew by his face). All Harley really wanted right now was to take a nice, relaxing warm shower to ease his sore muscles, then maybe let Abbie walk on his back.

Inside Harley’s room was a private bathroom complete with a jacuzzi tub and shower. The bathroom, like everywhere else in the Tower, had a modern aesthetic. The walls were covered with cool gray tiles, and the floors were made of off-white marble tiles. The tiles even came with a built-in heater for the cold New York days (because Tony wasn’t an animal).

Harley entered the generously large shower cubicle which offered some privacy with its frosted glass. As soon as he opened the glass door to turn the knob of the shower, Harley couldn’t hold back the scream that erupted from his throat.

Peter, on the other hand, was relaxing on the ceiling in a cozy web hammock he had made. Dr. Strange finally gave him the okay to start training again, so he spent the morning working with Nat on gymnastics work on the beam and the bars. Currently, he was reading a book MJ recommended to him when a very disheveled, very under-dressed Harley ran into his room.

“Pete!”

Peter promptly fell out of his hammock and onto the floor, the book landing on his head. “Ouch...”

Peter stood up and rubbed his head. He stared at the sight in front of him—Harley stood in his room with a panicked look on his face. He only wore a towel around his waist, showing off his tall, lanky frame and muscled torso. Right above his heart was a finely shaded rose tattoo with the name ‘Julia’ written in an elegant script inside the stem.

Peter’s curiosity peaked, and he studied the tattoo closely. Harley had seen Peter shirtless several times because of his training, but Harley kept his training a secret until a few weeks ago when he made his debut as Iron Lad. Peter didn’t even know Harley had a tattoo until now, and he didn’t remember Harley ever bringing up anyone named ‘Julia’ in their conversations. Peter could feel a slight discomfort rising in his chest, but from what, he couldn’t put his finger on.

Harley grabbed Peter by the shoulders, snapping Peter out of his thoughts. “I promise I don’t do drugs!”

Peter blinked and nodded, moving his eyes away from Harley’s chest. “Okay…? I mean, I wouldn’t judge you if you did, but I’m glad you’ve come clean about being… clean? 

“No, no! It’s not that!” Harley took a deep breath, looking Peter dead in the eyes. “I have to tell you something and I don’t want you to think I’m crazy!”

“Mhm...”

“There’s a giant ant knitting a sweater in my shower. Giant. Ant. Knitting. In my shower.”

A minute or so passed before the gears turned in Peter’s mind. He crossed his arms and scowled. “Scott.”

“Lang? What about him?” Harley asked, confused.

“Remember how he made himself tiny?” Harley nodded and Peter continued. “Well, he can also make himself really big and other things too with the Pym particles he uses. I think he just wanted to prank you since you’re new to the team.”

“But why is there a giant ant in my shower,” Harley all but whined. “I just want to shower in peace, man.”

It was at that point that Harley remembered the state of undress he was in—Standing in Peter’s room. With nothing but a towel. His face turned a dark red and he held onto the towel tightly with one hand to make sure it was secure. “I, uh, I’m really sorry about this... I kinda just freaked out… You know, knitting ant and all.”

“Don’t worry, Harls,” Peter reassured, turning his gaze away from Harley and to a spot on the adjacent wall. “You can use my shower if you’d like... I’ll get rid of that ant for you.”

Harley nodded, peeking his head into Peter’s bathroom to make sure there were no other giant insects crawling around first before making sure the door was securely shut.

With a huff, Peter marched down the hallway to Harley’s room. The doors opened for him automatically and Peter stepped inside. To be frank, Harley’s room was plain. The light forest green walls were undecorated for the most part other than some photos of his family and a random poster of a vintage tractor, which Tony got Harley as a joke (to remind Harley of his culture, apparently). It didn’t quite have that ‘lived in’ look to it, unlike Peter’s room, which made sense since Harley hadn’t been at the Tower for very long.

It dawned on Peter that it was his first time inside Harley’s room. It wasn’t exactly how he pictured he’d end up in Harley's room, and heat rose to his face at that thought.

Peter shook his head and opened the door to Harley’s connected bathroom. Just as Harley said, there certainly was a giant ant sitting in Harley’s shower and knitting a sweater.

Peter crossed his arms and stared down at the ant sternly. “Antonio, what do you have to say for yourself?”

The ant looked down in shame. Antonio made a few clicking noises while holding the now finished sweater out towards Peter.

“I don’t want your apology sweater, Antonio. And I don’t care how many sugar cubes Scott promised you. You should apologize to Harley, not me.” Peter huffed. “Although… I’m not really sure how he’d react to you giving him the sweater… You did give him a bit of a scare.”

Peter reached his hand out to grab the sweater. Antonio clicked and let go of the sweater. The Pym particles wore off, and Antonio shrunk back to his normal size. Peter watched as he scurried away, probably back to Scott and Hope’s room.

“Is it gone?”

Harley’s soft voice echoed in the large bathroom as Harley peeked inside.

“Yeah, he’s gone. His name’s Antonio, by the way, just in case you run into him again.”

Peter turned towards Harley, and his face flushed a dark red. Harley was still in a state of undress, towel wrapped around his waist, and his curly blonde hair turned into a light shade of brown because of the water.

The two stood in silence for a few moments until Harley cleared his throat. “Thanks for letting me use your shower… I, umm.. I need to change…”

“O-Oh! Right. That’s right, I’m in your room.” Peter laughed awkwardly and walked past Harley, only to accidentally bump into his shoulder. “Sorry! Sorry, I’m sorry, so sorry.” Peter quickly shoved Antonio’s sweater into Harley’s arms and ran back to his room.

Harley chuckled as he straightened out the sweater in front of him to take a better look at it. The sweater was black and red, decorated with white spider webs along the sleeves and the signature Spider-man logo on the front. Harley hummed thoughtfully, “Talented ant…”

* * *

Peter shifted uncomfortably in his suit. Sadly, it wasn’t his spider-man suit. Peter was wearing his own three-piece Tom Ford suit, courtesy of Tony, and his new dress shoes hadn’t been broken into yet. They pinched his feet when he walked and Peter didn’t want to accidentally crease such nice shoes. Suits in general just made him uncomfortable. After all, the only other times he wore a suit were for high school dances and funerals…

Peter hated, absolutely hated, the business side of being Tony’s intern. He could deal with behind the scenes things like design and development, but not pitching ideas to the board or voicing his opinion on products and advertisements. Peter was good with people. Normal people. Not big wigs and CEOs in thousand-dollar suits who were watching his every move, wondering why Tony would ever pick someone as unqualified as him to be his intern or be his representative at important meetings or-

Peter took a deep breath and wrung his hands nervously as he walked into the conference room floor.

“ _You’re fine_ ,” Peter thought to himself, taking deep breaths to calm himself down. “ _Tony believes in you. You’ve done this plenty of times. Harley will be there too. Everything is going to be fine._ ”

He heard the elevator ding, and soon, voices started to fill the waiting area. Men and women from the board and other stockholders entered the room, Harley leading the group as he continued a conversation with one of the board members. The man let out a hearty laugh at something Harley said.

Peter stood in awe and maybe a bit of jealousy. Harley was new to this world, but he was so confident. Harley stood tall and professional while Peter had to remind himself not to hunch his shoulders or try to hide his hands in his sleeves.

“Mr. Parker! It’s good to see you again.”

A voice snapped Peter out of his wallowing, and he remembered his current predicament. He shook the hand of the man Harley was speaking to. “It’s good to see you again, sir!” Peter said enthusiastically, flashing his signature smile.

“A lot of important things to talk about today,” the man returned Peter’s grin. Peter and Harley held the conference doors open and continued to greet each person as they entered the room.

“Ready, Darlin’?” Harley asked with a slight raise of his eyebrow.

Peter’s face flushed slightly. “As I’ll ever be…”

Harley flashed him a grin and a wink, and the two headed into the conference room.

It was after three grueling hours that a break was _finally_ called. Honestly, it was Tony’s fault. Even though Tony wasn’t present at the meeting, the itinerary was designed with him in mind. Typically, for each product in discussion, there would be one meeting dedicated to it so that the product at hand could be discussed thoroughly. But with Tony, it was always a hit or miss. If he DID show up to a meeting, you better talk about as many products as you can or you would never know when he would be around for the next meeting.

In three hours, they discussed how to keep the latest model of the Starkphone fairly affordable while also ethically manufactured, and they discussed how to use Tony’s infamous BARF (binarily augmented retro-framing) glasses in exposure therapy for victims of trauma. The last item on the itinerary was for Peter to pitch his portable suture machine to be used in the U.S. military and humanitarian aid efforts. 

Needless to say, Peter was nervous.

The other board members and stockholders left the room to get lunch from the SI cafeteria, leaving Harley and Peter in the conference room.

“Want me to grab some lunch for you?” Harley asked Peter as he stood up from his seat and stretched his arms.

“Uh, yeah, sure… Thanks, Harls…” Peter bit his lip as he flipped through the holographic slides of his powerpoint.

He didn’t look up until firm hands pressed against his shoulders. Peter closed his eyes and hummed appreciatively.

“You got this,” Harley said with a grin as he gently rubbed Peter’s shoulders. “How about I ask one of the receptionists if they can grab us lunch and you can run through your presentation with me real quick before everyone gets back?”

Peter nodded his head quickly, and Harley chuckled. “Alright, I’ll be right back.”

Peter continued to go through his slides, quietly mumbling the script he had prepared the last week or so as he went through each slide. Several minutes had passed and Harley had yet to return. Although Harley’s gesture was very sweet, Peter’s superhuman metabolism was starting to get the better of him, and Peter could feel his blood sugar beginning to dip. He decided to grab some emergency snacks from the receptionists’ desk while waiting for lunch to arrive.

Once Peter exited the conference room, what he saw made his blood begin to boil.

Harley was leaning against the receptionists’ desk, his suit jacket thrown casually over his shoulder. The young woman at reception let out a soft giggle as Harley flashed her a handsome smile.

“I just love your accent,” she gushed. “I could listen to you talk all day. And you’re so witty, just like Mr. Stark.”

Harley chuckled. “Well, I did learn from the best.”

Peter cleared his throat, catching Harley off guard. Harley looked up from his position and saw a scowl creep onto Peter’s face.

“Can I have a word with you, _Mr. Keener_?” Peter’s polite smile did nothing to hide the venom creeping into his voice.

Without waiting for Harley’s response, Peter turned on his heel and headed down the hallway.

“Pete, wait!” Harley jogged to catch up to Peter’s long, purposeful strides. “Pete, look, I don’t know what’s wrong, but you were acting incredibly rude to Jules there.”

Peter stopped in his tracks causing Harley to stumble to prevent himself from accidentally running into Peter. With a glare, Peter pulled Harley into the nearest room by his tie. “Rude? Me, rude?” Peter kicked the door shut.

Harley let out a huff of annoyance and threw his hands behind his head. “I get that you’re hangry, but you don’t need to take it out on anyone else. Lunch is coming soon, no need to be so upset about it.”

Peter crossed his arms. “You left me in the conference room to, what? Go flirt with the receptionist? If you ask me, you’re the one who’s being rude.”

“I was just making conversation while waiting!” Harley held his hands up in surrender. “I don’t see the problem with getting to know the other people who work here!”

“Yeah? I’m sure you got to know _Jules_ real well.”

“As a matter of fact, I did. Her name’s Julia and she’s been working here for over a year, straight out of college _.”_

“Well it seems like you’ve got a type,” Peter bit out angrily.

Harley let out an exasperated sigh, “Pete, what’s that even supposed to mean—“ Harley’s arm jerked and knocked into the object next to him. Peter let out a yelp when he felt the handle of a broom hit him right on the head _._

“Pete! I’m so sorry!” Harley closed the distance between them and checked over Peter’s head for any bumps. “I did not mean to do that, I promise!”

Peter felt the anger inside of him subside and he let out a small laugh. “Harls, trust me, I’ve been hit by worse.”

Peter looked up, nose brushing against Harley’s. The two blushed realizing how close they were standing together. Harley was the first to pull away, much to Peter’s disappointment.

“Was that a… broom?” Harley asked as he cleared his throat. The two looked down at the floor, and sure enough, a wooden broom was lying on the floor. Peter looked around at the room they were in. They were in a cleaning supply closet.

“What’s this doing here?” Harley asked as he motioned to the closet itself. “You’d think SI just has an army of little robots cleaning the place 24/7. Like a million rumbas or something.”

Peter shrugged. “I’ve been here for years, and honestly, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a broom closet in SI.”

Harley looked down at his watch and sighed. “We should probably get back to the conference room… We have about 45 minutes left to eat and for you to run through your presentation one last time. Hopefully, lunch is already there.”

Harley wiggled the doorknob and tried unsuccessfully to open the door. “Ummm, Pete? I think the door is locked…”

“What?” Peter furrowed his brows and tried to open the door. The door was locked, which was strange because he was able to open it in the first place.

“Let me just call someone to let us out. Maybe someone will have a key… Is Happy around?No, maybe someone who works on this floor… Maybe if we yell loud enough, someone will find us and—”

In one swift movement, Peter kicked the doorknob off of the door and pushed the door open with ease.

“Or you can do that…”

Peter grinned sheepishly as he and Harley exited the closet.

* * *

“Seriously, man? A broom closet? How did you even manage to put that together?”

“I kind of forgot that Peter could just kick down the door if he really wanted to… Don’t look at me that way! It works out way better in fanfictions!”

“Do I even want to know? Look, we have to lock them somewhere that’s basically indestructible for that to work.”

“You know what… I know just the place.”

“How long do you think it’ll take for Stark to realize we’re holding all of his tiny robot vacuums hostage?”

“Oh right, I forgot about them. We should probably put them back.”

* * *

The elevator chimed softly and the doors opened to one of Peter’s favorite places in SI—the R&D labs. Here, Peter felt more like himself, unlike the other day when he had to wear a stuffy suit and act formally with his superiors. Even though it wasn’t as casual or free as Tony’s private lab, Peter liked spending time with the other engineers, scientists, and mechanics at SI.

Peter entered the busy lab, waving at all of the familiar faces until he spotted someone in particular.

“Hey, Riri!”

A young African American woman looked up from her current project and waved at Peter. “Peter! I haven’t seen you in forever!”

Riri Williams was a good friend of Peter’s. She was a year older than him, and she started working at SI before him. Funnily enough, they were both students at MIT.

“How’s my favorite engineer?” Peter asked as he gave her a high five.

Riri smirked. “He’s over there talking to one of the psychologists on the BARF project.” Riri nodded her head to a lab table across the room where Harley was sitting with a well-dressed young man wearing an oversized cashmere sweater with the collar of a white button-up shirt peaking at the collar.

“What! I mean-it’s not-he’s not-we’re just-friendly!” Peter sputtered as his face turned red.

Riri laughed. “Relax! I’m just kidding. But he is cute though. You have good taste, Parker.”

Peter’s face turned a darker shade of red. “Whatever…” he mumbled softly. “What are you working on?”

Riri held up what looked like a charm bracelet adorned with charms based on each of the Avengers’ symbols. “You know those communicator bracelets the Wakandans use? Well, I was thinking, what if we made something like them but as a safety device? For example, if someone like a young woman walking alone at night felt unsafe, all she would need to do is press one of the charms and the charm would immediately start recording and alert the authorities. I was thinking this could be used in domestic violence situations because it would be discrete enough, and Avengers are all the rage now.”

“That’s amazing, Riri!” Peter held up the bracelet in wonder.

Riri flipped her hair. “Oh, you’re too much. By all means, keep going.”

Peter chuckled as he settled into the workbench across from her. She continued to explain the mechanics of each charm and how she wanted it to be gender-neutral but also remain close to the person, so some form of jewelry was the best option. Peter listened attentively, but soon became distracted by the sound of laughter. It was far enough away that Riri didn’t notice it, but Peter’s enhanced hearing picked it up loud and clear.

“ _This technology is so fascinating! It’s like VR, but you’re creating it with your own memories! The possibilities are endless! Instead of asking clients to expose themselves to traumatic events in vivo, they can actually see it as if it was happening in front of them from either a first-person or third-person point of view. But! Of course, they can do this all within a safe environment with a trained mental health professional by their side. Amazing!_ ”

Peter easily picked up Harley’s low chuckle. _“Well, I’m glad that you’re enthusiastic about this, but you haven’t even seen it in action yet. Want to test it out? It can be a happy memory too.”_

_“Oh, I don’t know if I can do that. I’m so used to the whole nondisclosure part of being a therapist, it’s practically engraved into my soul.”_

_“Confidentiality, right? My lips are sealed, promise. Let’s head somewhere not so.. crowded.”_

Peter could definitely hear the smirk in Harley’s voice the way he spoke so smooth and low. He spoke to the psychologist the same way he spoke when he teased Peter.

Peter didn’t realize he was holding a pencil until it snapped cleanly in half in his fist.

Riri jumped back in surprise. “What’s wrong?” Her eyes followed Peter’s to where Harley and the young man were leaving the lab to another room. “Gonna go get your man?”

“Yeah, I am.” Peter huffed and stood up from the workbench, trailing after Harley and whoever this other guy was.

When Peter caught up to them, Harley was preparing the demonstration room while explaining how the glasses would work.

“The glasses will create opaque holograms. You shouldn’t be able to see anything else in this room other than the images you create, but it’s best that the area is relatively clear. Wouldn’t want you to walk into something on accident.”

Harley moved a few chairs out of the way, while the psychologist sat in the middle of the demonstration room.

Peter cleared his throat from the doorway and the two men looked at him.

“I need to speak with Mr. Keener for a moment if you don’t mind.” Peter smiled at the young man politely.

“O-Oh! Not a problem at all! I can just wait here.”

Harley looked at Peter and then back at the young man. He noticed the way Peter stood with his arms crossed and lips pursed, and something told him it would be more than just a moment. “No need, I can ask another one of the engineers to complete the demonstration with you and we can debrief afterward.”

Harley lifted his watch to his face. “FRI? Can you ask Riri to come down to demonstration room 7 to assist Mr. Richards?”

“Oh, please, call me Nathaniel,” Nathaniel smiled softly at Harley.

Harley returned his smile. “Be back in a jif then, Nathaniel.”

Peter had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at how the psychologist’s name rolled off of Harley’s tongue. Harley met him at the door and the two walked down the bustling hallway.

“You gonna tell me what this is all about?” Harley asked as he trailed beside Peter.

Peter didn’t respond right away, not because he was mad, but because he didn’t think this through… Why did he pull Harley out of that demonstration? He had no real reason to…

“Let’s find a more quiet place to talk,” came Peter’s response as they weaved their way between the people in the lab.

Harley pulled Peter into a quiet, secluded area that wasn’t teeming with scientists and engineers. “Pete, really, what’s this all about? You’re not acting like yourself lately.”

Peter bit his lip and folded his hands together. “I know… I’m sorry, Harls… It wasn’t right of me to pull you out of that demonstration. You were just doing your job..”

“Are you mad because Tony put me in charge of that project instead of you? He figured you were so busy with your other projects that he shouldn’t bother you with this one.”

Peter shook his head. “No! That’s not it!”

“Then talk to me, Pete, I’m not a mind-reader,” Harley sighed, exasperated. Peter could never annoy him, but the way he was acting made Harley so confused.

“It’s just- I just- I think you’re being very unprofessional.”

The words spilled out of Peter’s mouth so fast and so confidently before Peter even realized he said them.

The two stood in silence for what felt like ages.

Harley rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You pull me, the intern to Pepper Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries, out of conversations with employees and potential partners. And I’m the one who’s unprofessional?”

“Yes. No! I mean, maybe?” Peter laughed nervously.

With each step Harley took forward, Peter took a step back until his back was flush against the wall. Harley leaned over him with a dark look on his face and Peter pressed his hands against his chest to prevent Harley from coming closer.

“O-Okay, maybe what I said was a little uncalled for. I didn’t mean unprofessional, I just meant not exactly.. very.. professional…”

Harley gently grabbed Peter’s chin and forced Peter to look up at him. Peter felt his heart pound as Harley stood above him silently, searching his eyes.

After what felt like ages, Harley stepped back and started laughing.

Peter blinked in confusion. “What… What’s so funny?”

Harley wipes the tears pooling at the corners of his eyes from laughing so hard. “You! I can’t believe you’re jealous!”

Peter sputtered. “M-Me! Jealous! Please, in your dreams, Keener.” Peter crossed his arms in defiance.

“You are so jealous! I can’t believe I didn’t realize it before!” Harley continued to laugh.

“You’re ridiculous, Harley Keener, you know that? I’m leaving.” Peter growled and marched towards where they entered. But when he stood in front of the entrance, there was no doorknob in sight. Peter felt around the wall but to no avail. There was no hidden panel or switch to open the exit.

“Harley?”

Harley was still laughing, much to Peter’s annoyance.

“Harley Keener quit laughing and help me find a way out of here.”

Harley’s laughs gradually subsided as he calmed himself down. He joined Peter at his side and also felt the walls for a doorknob or any type of latch. “Hey, Pete… Weren’t they working on a new containment unit for extremely dangerous villains? Something that was strong enough to hold the Hulk and strong enough to withstand energy blasts from Captain Marvel?”

The two looked at each other as the gears began to turn in their brains.

Peter pursed his lips and glared at Harley silently.

“Awww, come on, Pete, don’t give me that look! It was an accident, I swear!” Harley held his hands up as if to prove his innocence. Peter continued to glare at him. “Harley. Keener.”

“Darlin’,” Harley whined as he wrapped his arms around Peter’s waist.

Peter blushed and gently tried to move Harley off of him. “Get off me, Keener. I’m not in the mood.”

Harley leaned forward. “I promise I only have eyes for you, Pete,” he whispered just loud enough for Peter to hear.

Peter’s face flushed a dark red as Harley began to press gentle kisses from his ear down his neck.

“H-Harley, cut that out,” Peter squirmed. “I’m not in the mood for your games.”

“Games? Darlin’, I’m not—“

Before Harley could finish, the door opened and revealed Riri standing outside, clipboard in hand.

Harley and Peter separated as fast as they could.

“Demonstration’s over,” Riri stated with a blank expression on her face. “For future reference, the walls to this chamber are set up like one-way glass. You’re lucky it’s just me.”

Riri couldn’t tell whose face was more red.

* * *

“How’d you know about the containment chamber?”

“Eh… I was there when they built the first one. Battle of New York, 2012.”

“Wow. I think I was in prison. Any other ideas? If not, I could just—”

“No more ants, Scott, it’s weird enough playing Rock Band with them. They’re old enough to drink, right?”

“I’m pretty sure Peter’s still 20.”

“Whatever, I’m pretty sure there’s no legal drinking age on Asgard.”

* * *

Harley laid on his bed watching random TEDTalks on the benefits of sleeping regularly. It was nearly 11:00 PM, but he wasn’t tired, and he wasn’t in the mood to do anything productive either. He was hoping that the TEDTalks would either motivate him to go to sleep or bore him enough to make him sleep. It didn’t work out the way he planned, and the next video in his queue was about how music affects the brain.

Harley stretched his arms and continued to somewhat pay attention to the video playing above him when someone started knocking on his door.

“Come in!” Harley called, not bothering to get out of bed. The person knocking probably didn’t hear him though because they just kept knocking. Harley huffed. “FRI, can you please open the door?”

“That would be inadvisable,” came FRIDAY’s response.

“Inadvisable my foot…” Harley groaned as he forced himself out of his bed and headed towards his door.

When the door opened, Harley was not expecting Peter to fall into his arms.

“Harls!” Peter giggled as he wrapped his arms around Harley’s neck. “Carry me!”

Harley picked Peter up with ease and carried him to the bed. “Pete, I know beer when I smell it. I thought you couldn’t get drunk? Y’know, spider metabolism and all.”

Peter crossed his arms like a child. “Not drunk. Never been drunk.”

Harley grinned. “Alright, keep telling yourself that.” He pat Peter’s head gently. “You can rest here until it’s out of your system. But don’t even think about throwing up on me.”

Harley moved to sit next to Peter, but Peter pulled Harley on top of him.

“H-Hey!” Harley blushed as Peter wrapped his legs around Harley’s waist.

“’s not fair, Harls…” Peter’s lips formed into a pout and his puppy dog eyes kicked in.

“Wh-What’s not fair, Pete?” Harley asked as he tried to move himself off of Peter. He, however, was stuck in that position due to Peter’s super strength.

“Everyone wants you, but I want you too!” Peter flipped Harley over so Harley was on his back and Peter sat on his hips. “You’re too flirty!”

Harley laughed nervously at their new position, his face turning a dark red shade. “Me? Flirty? You’re hilarious, Parker. Look at what you’re doing right now! Besides… It’s you everyone wants…” Harley turned his face to the side.

Peter blinked in confusion. “Hm?”

“Jules wouldn’t stop talking about how handsome you are and asking me if you were seeing someone. And when you walked into the R&D lab, you should’ve seen the way Nathaniel looked at you… That’s why I wanted him out of the lab…”

Harley felt Peter’s hands grabbing at his pajama shirt, lifting it above his chest. “W-Woah, Peter, slow down, let’s not do this when you’re not thinking straight, okay?”

Peter firmly pressed his index finger against the tattoo on Harley’s chest. “Who’s this?” Peter asked firmly.

Harley sighed in relief. “I’d tell you, but I feel like you wouldn’t remember in the morning…”

Peter yawned and collapsed on Harley’s chest. Harley sighed as he moved Peter gently off of him. He carefully wrapped Peter in a blanket and placed a soft kiss on Peter’s forehead.

“I knew you were jealous.”

* * *

The next morning, Peter woke with a pounding headache. He groaned as he sat up in his bed. He couldn’t really remember what happened after playing Mario Kart with Scott and Clint, but he had the strangest dream. Harley was in it.

Peter opened his eyes the best he could with the pounding in his head and the sun’s bright light filtering into his room.

“FRIDAY, what time is it?” He asked as he rubbed his eyes.

“It is currently 10:00 AM. Breakfast has already been prepared and a few of the others have already begun their morning training.”

Peter groaned. He really couldn’t train with Nat today, or at least until this headache went away.

Peter turned to leave his bed when he saw a faded photograph on his bedside table. Carefully, he picked up the photo and examined it. It was a photo of a young boy with a mop of curly blonde hair grinning with a wide smile. He was sitting next to a beautiful woman who looked to be a few months pregnant. Peter turned the photo. On the back of the photo in a cursive font was written ‘ _In memory of Julia Rose Keener_.’

Peter smiled softly. Soon, memories of the previous night began to flood in Peter’s mind.

“No… Nonononononononono!”

Peter ran to the kitchen where Clint and Scott were currently eating pop tarts.

“Morning, Pete,” Scott said with a mischievous smile.

“Yeah, Pete, good morning. Did you sleep well?” Clint asked with a smirk.

“You have 10 seconds to run starting 6 seconds ago.”

When the others came back from training, they paid no attention to the pleas of the two men webbed to the side of the building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tension~
> 
> Side note: I don't write smut :) It'll get a little toasty, but definitely not steamy, if you get what I mean. I'll stop now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'll be honest, I'm not a very consistent updater, but I actually really like this fic and I really want to finish it! Please leave a comment if you liked it and want to read more! Thanks!


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